(tes.: ii 




•OLD 6T9NE C 

FU81JC &^U* 



ANNALS 



OF THE 



First Presbyterian Church 

of Cleveland, 
1820-1895. 



BEING 

SERMONS AND PAPERS 

CAIJ,ED OUT BY 

THE CELEBRATION OF 

HER SEVENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY, 

CLEVELAND, O. 



PRESS OF WINN & JUDSON, 



to those who come after us, in the loving 
service of Christ our Lord, in the commun- 
ion of the First Presbyterian Church of 
Cleveland, Ohio, this volume, which brings 
down to date, with reasonable fulness, 
the history of this church, is inscribed. 
' 'Others have labored and ye have entered 
into their labors." 




Stone Church Annals. 



The Seventy - Fifth Anniversary of the First 
Presbyterian Church was appropriately celebrated, 
beginning Sunday, October 20, 1895. The Sunday 
School led the way with the following program : 

EXERCISES, 

Invocation Rev. F. W. Jackson 

Usuae Quarter's Responsive Exercises. 

Song Senior Department 

Reading oe Scriptures Rev. F. W. Jackson 

Song Primary Department 

Short Taeks. . . .by T. P. Handy, F. C. Keith and R. F. Smith 

Song Senior Department 

Short Taeks by H. N. Raymond and Dr. Haydn 

Song .Intermediate Department 

Short Taeks by Dr. Dutton and B. C. Higbee 

Letters erom Absent Superintendents. 

Song Senior Department 

Benediction Mr. Jackson 



Then followed in order, to the social festivities of 
Thursday evening, the program, herewith presented. 
The interest continued, unabated, to the end. Several 
octogenarians looked in upon the occasion, and the 
interest of many outside the Church was very gratify- 
ing. Mr. T. P. Handy not only read his paper, but 
was daily present — none more welcome, none more 
interested. From New York came Dr. Wilton Merle 



4 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



Smith, to arouse the enthusiasm of other days, and 
tell us the secret of power in doing the work given 
us to do. Kev. Henry Elliott Mott hastened from the 
ocean steamer that brought him home, to speak of the 
"Down-Town Church," and its mission, which he 
knows so well how to magnify. Every body seemed 
to feel that it was good to have been a part of such a 
history. Special interest centered in the parlors of 
the chapel, where were grouped a vast number of 
pictures of former members, and tablets with names 
of elders, trustees, etc. A reproduction of the chapel 
and parlors, in part, is presented in these pages. 

The committees in charge were constituted as 
follows : 

General Committee on Program : 

Hiram C. Haydn, Sereno P. Fenn, 

Richard C. Parsons, Charles L. Kimball, 
Reuben F. Smith, Mrs. H. Kirke Cushing, 
Mrs. George W. Gardner. 

Committee on Invitation : 
Reuben F. Smith, Mrs. Geo. W. Gardner, 
Edwin C. Higbee, Mrs. L. Austin, 
Herbert E. Brooks, Mrs. Sereno P. Fenn. 

Committee on Finance : 
Samuel A. Raymond, Mrs. W. S. Tyler, 
Frank Herrick, Mrs. J. V. Painter. 

The Social Reunion was under the management of 
the Ladies and Goodrich Societies, assisted by the 
Haydn Circle of young misses. 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



5 



The following invitation was in due time issued : 



OU are cordially invited to be present and partic- 



ipate in the Exercises commemorative of the 

Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 

of the organization of the First Presbyterian Church of 
Cleveland, Ohio, to be held in the Church Edifice, corner 
of Ontario Street and the Public Square, October 20th, 
2Jst, 22d, 23d and 24th, J895. 



1820-1895 




Hiram C Haydn, 

Pastor. 
William P. Stanton, 
Clerk of Session. 



Reuben F. Smith, 
Edwin C. Higbee, 
Herbert E. Brooks, 
Mrs. Geo. H. Gardner, 
Mrs. L. Austin, 
Mrs. S. P. Fenn, 



Committee of Invitation. 



6 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



The program decided upon and carried out is found 
in the pages following : 



IPastor : 

HIRAM C. HAYDN, 
1872-1880 
1884-1895 



1820-1895 



Gboir : 

Mr. W. B. Colson, Jr., Organist and Choir Master. 
Miss Blanche Nielsson Armstrong, Soprano. 
Miss Sarah Layton Walker, Alto. 
Mr. H. A. Preston, Tenor. 
Mr. W. S. Dutton, Baritone. 



Iprooramme — 

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 20TH, 

10:30 A. M. 

Organ Predude — "Allegro Moderato" (Pontificale Sonata) 

Lemmens 

doxotogy and creed. 
Invocation. 

Anthem— "Still, Still with Thee," - - Arthur Foote 
Responsive Reading— From Scripture. 

Pastor. — Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, 

People. — In the city of our God, in the mountain of his 
holiness. 

Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount 
Zion, 

On the sides of the north, the city of the great King. 
God is known in her palaces for a refuge. 

We have thought of thy kindness, O God, in the midst of 
thy temple. 

According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise unto the ends 

of the earth. 
Thy right hand is full of righteousness. 
Let Mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad 

because of thy judgments. 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



7 



Walk about Zion, and go round about her : tell the 
towers thereof. 
Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces ; 

That ye may tell it to the generation following. 
For this God is our God for ever and ever ; 

He will be our guide even unto death. 
Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Zion ; 

And unto thee shall the vow be performed. 
O thou that hearest prayer, 

Unto thee shall all flesh come. 
Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to 
approach unto thee, 
That we may dwell in thy courts : 
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of 
thy holy temple. 
O bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of his. 
praise to be heard. 
Which holdeth our soul in life, and suffereth not our feet to 
be moved. 

God be merciful unto us and bless us : and cause thy 
face to shine upon us : 
That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health 
among all nations. 
Let the people praise thee, O God, let all the people 
praise thee. 

Of Zion it shall be said, that this man was born in her : 
And the highest himself shall establish her. 

The Lord shall count, when he writeth up the people, 
That this man was born there. 

As well the singers, as the players on instruments shall be 
there. 

All my springs are in thee. 
Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound. 

They shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance. 
In thy name shall they rejoice all the day. 



8 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



And in thy righteousness shall they be exalted. 
For thou art the glory of their strength : 

And in thy favor our horn shall be exalted. 
Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies and thy loving kind- 
nesses, 

For they have been ever of old. 
Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto 
their children. 
And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us. 
Establish thou the work of our hands upon us. 
Yea, the work of our hands, establish thou it. 
Aij<. — Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly 
above all that we ask or think, 
According to the power that worketh in us ; 
Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus, 
Throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. 

Gloria — "Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy 

Ghost." 
Scripture Lesson. 
Hymn— No. 753. 
Prayer. 
Hymn — No. 757. 

Offering and Prayer of Consecration. 
Offertory — " O Rest in the Lord," (Elijah) - Mendelssohn 
Miss Walker. 

Sermon— By the Pastor. 

Anthem — "God so Loved the World," - - Stainer 
Prayer and Benediction. 

Organ Postujde — "Marche Pontificale (Pontificale Sonata) 

Lemmens 



3:30 p. m. 

SACRAMENT OF THE LORD'S SUPPER. 
Union of Presbyterian Churches. 
Organ Prelude— "Adoration," - - - Dubois 
To Preside— Rev. D. O. Mears, D. D. 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



9 



The Service of the Bread — Rev. Paul F. Sutphen, D. D. 
The Service of the Cup — Rev. Jas. D. Williamson. 

ORDER OF SERVICE: 
Invocation — The Pastor. 

Scripture and Hymn — No. 606 — Rev. John S. Zelie. 

Anthem — "O Lamb of God," - Lake 

Address — Dr. Mears. 

The Bread— Dr. Sutphen. 

The Cup — Rev. Jas. D. Williamson. 

Hymn — No. 1021 — Announced by Rev. T. Y. Gardner. 

Benediction — Rev. A. J. Waugh. 

Organ Posteude— Offertory in D flat, - - Salome 



EVENING SERVICE. 
7:15 p. m. 

Organ Prelude — " Prayer," - Gigout 

Hymn — No. 964. 

Invocation. 

Anthem — "God to Whom We Look Up," - Chadwick 
Scripture Lesson. — Dr. D. O. Mears. 

Anthem — "God is Love," - Shelley 

Mr. Dutton and Quartette. 
Prayer — Rev. John S. Zelie. 

Offertory — " Cantilene in A," . - - Salome 
Mr. Coeson. 

Sermon— "Then and Now — A Contrast." — By the Pastor. 
Anthem—" Love not the World," - - Sullivan 

Miss Waeker and Quartette. 

Prayer. 
Hymn— No. 911. 

Organ Posteude — "Hosannah," - Dubois 



10 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



MONDAY EVENING. 

7:30 P. M. 

Organ Prelude — " Marche Religieuse," - - Guilmant 

Devotional Service— Conducted by Rev. J. S. Zelie. 

Anthem — " Benedictus in E flat," - Klein 

Solo— "I will Sing of Thy Great Mercies," (St. Paul) 

Mendelssohn 

Miss Armstrong. 
Address— " The Church and the Community." 

Dean Williams of Trinity Church 
Anthem — " All Praise to God," - - Wagner 
Address — "The Church and Religious Progress." 

Rev. L. L. Taylor of Plymouth Church 

Solo— "O Saviour Hear Me," - - - G 'luck- Buck 

Miss Walker. 
Address— "The Church as a Witness to the Truth." 

Rev. Levi Gilbert, D. D., of the First Methodist Church 

Anthem — " O for a Closer Walk with God," - - Foster 
Address — "The Church in Her Fellowships." 

Rev. A. G. Upham, D. D., of the First Baptist Church 
Hymn — No. 824. 

BENEDICTION. 

Organ Postlude — March in D, - - - Smart 



TUESDAY AFTERNOON. 

2:30 P. M. 

Devotional Service— Conducted, by Rev. Giles H. Dunning. 
Hymn— No. 399. 

Address—" The Founders of the First Church." 

Hon. T. P. Handy 

Hymn — No. 411. 

Paper — "Our Work with the Young." Mr. Charles L. Kimball 
Solo. 

Mrs. Mary Foote Severance. 
Paper— "Our Young People." Mr. Giles R. Anderson 



STONE CHUKCH ANNALS. 



11 



Hymn — No. 427. 

Paper — "Personal Recollections 

Hymn — No. 523. 



of Bygone Times." 

Mrs. Mary M. Fairbanks 



TUESDAY EVENING. 

7:30 P. M. 

Organ Prelude — Cantabile, - Lemaigre 
Devotional Service — Led by Rev. Jas. D. Williamson. 
Anthem — "The Day is Gently Sinking," - - Gilchrist 

Miss Armstrong and Quartette. 
Address — " Our Spiritual Leaders." Hon. Richard C. Parsons 
Solo—" Here Let My Tears Flow." - - . Handel 

Miss Walker. 
Address — " Men of Mark in Church and Society." 

Hon. Samuel E. Williamson 

j " Benedictus," - Case 
anthem— j Lord of all Power and Might," - Chadwick 

Address — " The Cleveland Sisterhood of Presbyterian Churches." 

Rev. S. P. Sprecher, D. D. 

Hymn — No. 962. 
Benediction. 

Organ Postlude — Allegro Vivace, Sonata No. 2, Guilmant 



WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. 

2:30 P. M. 

Woman's Work. 
Devotional Service — Led by Rev. Theodore Y. Gardner. 
Hymn — No. 370. 

Paper — " In the Inner Circle — the Ladies' Society." 

Mrs. H. Kirk Cushing 

Hymn — No. 173. 

Paper -"In the Outer Circle— Missions. " Mrs. E. C. Higbee 
Solo— 



12 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



Mrs. John Sheridan ZeliE, 
Paper— ' 4 Leaves from Goodrich Society Annals." 

Mrs. Samuel Mather 

Hymn — No. 416. 



WEDNESDAY EVENING. 

7:30 P. M. 

Organ Prelude — "Benediction Nuptiale," - Saint Saens 
Prayer. 

TS. P. Fenn, 

The Outlook— Report of Committee— \ Moses R. Swift, 

(Mrs. Samuel Mather. 
Anthem— " Still, Still with Thee," - - - Foote 
Address— Rev. Henry Elliott Mott, Central Church, Buffalo. 
Anthem — " Abide with Me," - Biedermann 

Miss Walker and Quartette. 
Address— Wilton Merle Smith, D. D., Central Church, New York. 
Hymn — No. 557. 
Benediction. 

Organ Postlude — Scherzo from Sonata No. 5, Guilmant 



THURSDAY EVENING. 

7:30 tO 10:00 P. M. 

A Social Reunion, 

Limited, of necessity, to present and former members of the 
First Presbyterian Church and invited guests. 



It should be said that the recent discourses here- 
with printed, seemed essential to completeness, and do 
not over-lap each other, while the re-print of the 
historic sermon on Presbyterianism in Cleveland, 
brought down to date, seems to be justified by its 
statistical value, and its probable usefulness to those 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



13 



who come after us. It aims also to set the First 
Church fairly in relation to other churches and the 
vital interests in our city. 

It is to be regretted that no report of the exercises 
of Wednesday evening was made. The addresses 
were all delivered ex tempore, and followed upon the 
Report of a Special Committee, consisting of S. P. 
Fenn, M. R. Swift and Mrs. Samuel Mather, upon The 
Outlook. This report is here presented with these 
outlines of the Anniversary. It is thought by many 
that the report anticipates, in some of its features, 
a period yet quite remote. The financial strength of the 
parish, if available, is adequate for immediate needs, 
and the thought of outside help, now or ever, is 
felt to be illusory. 



Report of The Outlook committee. 

BEAD BY MR. FENN. 

The problems that confront the Old Stone Church, 
in the future no less than in the past, may be classified, 
very naturally, under three heads, viz : money, 
methods and men. But with this difference : the 
present conditions, as to each, are radically at variance 
with those existing seventy-five, fifty or even twenty- 
five years ago. Money which came then in pew rent- 
als and liberal gifts of individual members of the 
church and congregation, must, after awhile, be secur- 
ed largely from other sources ; for with sorrow we are 
forced to note that the ranks of men and women of 



14 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



wealth and liberal means, upon whom we once de- 
pended, are thinning out, as the years go by. Not 
less, but rather a larger amount of money is demanded 
for the prosecution of the work of the future ; for 
the population dependent upon our ministrations is 
greater, and the ability of those who can be counted 
upon to help themselves and others, is much less ; and 
their gifts, liberal though they may be, in proportion 
to their means, must be supplemented by a regular 
and reliable income, larger by far than is now in sight. 

Moreover, our work is to become, in an ever- 
increasing degree, an outlet and expression of the 
evangelical efforts of the city in this district, and must 
enlist the active sympathy and support, not only of 
sister churches and congregations, but also that of the 
public at large. 

The substantial endowment already provided, 
through the devotion and thoughtfulness of a few of 
our number, we believe we are not presumptuous in 
assuming, will be enlarged by the gifts of many more 
noble men and women of our membership and con- 
gregation. This will come from those who love the 
work, love the church, and can find no greater delight 
than in being the means of perpetuating their influ- 
ence after they, like others gone before, are gathered 
into the number of the silent host. The gifts of the 
Old Church which have been in the past, so liberal to 
missions and mission churches, and to the work of 
church extension, under the conditions of the future, 
must grow less, and be reversed in a large degree 
upon herself, for her own preservation, the nurture of 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



15 



her own life, and the developing of her own field. 

The solution then of the problem as to money, we 
believe to be, first, the providing of a more liberal en- 
dowment ; second, contributions, as usual, by the 
church herself, and, third, annual gifts from the mem- 
bers of other churches and congregations, and the 
generous public as well. 

2. As to methods, the Old Church should remain 
on its present site. Services, as attractive and in- 
structive as any in the city, should be maintained, and 
this for an audience composed partly of strangers, 
somewhat from the old families not yet severed from 
the early home, and largely of people dwelling in 
hotels and boarding-houses, and of such as have learn- 
ed to love the place for what it has done for them in 
brightening their lives and homes, and saving their 
children and friends. Of these classes there will 
never be a lack, while the influence for good, among 
the transient people alone, will reach to the remotest 
ends of the earth, unhindered either by race or na- 
tionality. 

While we say this for the church as it stands, we, at 
the same time, are thoroughly of the opinion that the 
mission of this greatest of all institutions can never be 
fulfilled in this neighborhood through these services or 
under this roof alone. * * * There is needed a 
central Parish House, with an audience-room comfort- 
able and of easy access, where popular and evangelistic 
services can be held regularly, with doors always open 
and a hearty welcome assured to all, both by day and 
night ; into which the poorest and most abandoned, 



16 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



the unfortunate and the outcast need never hesitate to 
enter, and where they could be certain of finding a 
refuge for both body and soul ; where, in both sum- 
mer and winter, the common people will be sure to 
hear the gospel, in and by and through which they 
may be led upward into better lives, and to an awak- 
ened sense of what the church is meant to be to all 
who come within its shelter, and to know how much 
there is in Christian life and worship wherever they 
exist, whether in stately edifice or mission house. 
Under its sheltering roof should be found ample ac- 
commodation for several of our benevolent organiza- 
tions. 

The Boys' Club, than which there is nothing more 
promising at present, reading room, amusement and 
study room, gymnasium and bathing facilities; a like 
organization for girls, with similar facilities ; Kinder- 
garten, Mother's meetings, Sewing school, Cooking 
school, and last but not least a Training school for 
Christian workers, into which and from which may be 
drawn those who are to be helpers in all departments, 
including the Sunday School. 

With these two centers of influence fully equipped, 
two, and yet to all intents and purposes one, the in- 
fluence of the Old Stone Church can be perpetuated 
indefinitely. The Pastor and Session of the church? 
with a board of managers, might constitute a body of 
counsellors, to whose wisdom could safely be confided 
the entire work of the church within its proper field. 

We would also emphasize the need of thorough co- 
operation and counsel with the management of all 



STONE CHUKCH ANNALS. 



17 



other benevolent organizations operating within these 
boundaries, both in view of the greatest efficiency as 
well as economy in the prosecution of the work. 

As to men, one fact must be recognized at the out- 
set, that in the changed constituency of the church, 
and the possible failure of volunteer workers, more 
dependence must continually be had on the paid 
services of a competent corps of helpers, sufficient to 
assure efficiency in all plans adopted. We fear no 
loss in this, by the change from present methods, but 
rather a vast gain. Comparatively few individuals, 
devoting all their time and thought to the prosecution 
of a common object, can accomplish far more than 
many people engaged in fragmentary and irregular 
services. Besides, the extent to which workers can 
be developed out of the material at hand, depends 
upon the amount of training they may receive in the 
schools and classes of the Parish building. Surely it 
would be a step in this direction to establish an effi- 
cient Training school from which could soon be drawn 
helpers of great value in the prosecution of all lines 
of work. Your committee counts one thing certain 
that, if the work cannot be planned to run with an 
equipment of men and woman living close at hand, it 
will be crippled and unsatisfactory in results. Agen- 
cies should not be multiplied beyond the limit of 
thorough equipment. Consecration is demanded from 
every member now upon, or that may come upon, our 
church roll ; and there should not be one, in possession 
of full powers of mind and body, who does not lend 
a hand in some of these lines of effort. Still it will 



18 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



always be true that no large number of volunteers will 
regularly come from distant parts of the city to labor, 
either on week-day or Sunday, in Sunday School or 
mission house. 

Your committee considers the outlook as being 
full of promise, both as to such an equipment and the 
occupancy of our church field. We have a useful 
plant now, but we should have more by half, both in 
land and buildings. We have an endowment that 
should be doubled. We have an efficient Pastor, and 
should have two ; and the church as it stands is then 
equipped, and well equipped. The Parish house, of 
which we speak, must have an equipment of its own, 
where, with missionary helpers and teachers, the mul- 
titude shall be ministered to in a way as broad as the 
gospel of Christ will allow. The poor will here find a 
church home from the start, and the way-farer and 
wanderer a resting place and harbor of refuge. The 
combination of church and mission Parish house will 
furnish the opportunity to lead the child to the full- 
grown man, in body and mind, for the present life 
and the life to come ; and if in the end the outgrowth 
of it all be that our constituency become some time 
less strictly denominational, it will only be because it 
is the more thoroughly Christian. 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



19 



EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS. 

Mr. Ogden, the First Associate Pastor, Writes 
to his Senior: 

"I owe to your kindness an invitation to be present 
at the 75th anniversary of the First Church. That it 
would give me much pleasure to be able to accept it, 
I trust I need not say; unfortunately I shall not be 
able. 

"Though my connection with the church was but 
brief and subordinate, many friendships were formed 
at the time which retain a warm place in my memory. 
My indebtedness to you, in particular, was something 
great in those years, and I hope you have believed 
me sensible of it, even if I have been chary in ex- 
pressing it. It may be hard for you, it is for me at 
times, to believe that my life now and then is all of 
one piece in aim and master-motive, if so widely dif- 
ferent in outward circumstance; yet I am bound to 
believe it, nevertheless, on Browning's principle, 'a 
whole I planned.' 

"However, I want only to thank you for the invi- 
tation. If, by chance, any old friend should mention 
my name in anniversary week, be kind enough to 
express my interest in the celebration, and to say that 
I am well, busy and happy — both in work and family." 

President Simpson, of Marietta, writes: 
"Upon my return from the National Council and 
the meeting of the American Board, I find two invita- 
tions to attend the seventy-fifth anniversary of the 



20 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



old First Church. I very much regret that the invi- 
tations came too late for me to accept and be with 
you, for I am deeply interested in the old Church, and 
would have been very glad to have met you and the 
other pastors and those who are still carrying on the 
good work. Be assured of my deep interest in the 
Church and of my readiness to rejoice in all the pros- 
perity that comes to it." 

Rev. Joseph H. Selden, former Associate Pastor, 
now Pastor at Elgin, III., writes: 

"I am well aware that you are one accustomed to 
say to a man come, and he cometh. It is not easy to 
say 'no' to a suggestion of yours, especially where it 
would be a pleasure to assent, as it would for me in 
relation to the Old Stone Church celebration. I am 
sincerely obliged for the repeated invitation, though 
I still find it impossible to attend. I trust everything 
will move on as you would choose, and that the 
stirring of memory this 75th anniversary will bring, 
will insure fresh courage and zeal for the work that 
remains." 

From Saginaw, Mr. Knight Responds: 

"I was away last week, and overlooked responding 
to the reminder kindly sent us of the anniversary 
meeting. We want to send our most heartfelt con- 
gratulations on the occasion and our grateful thought 
as to what it means for the past and for the future." 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



21 



Mr. B. F. Shuart, a former Assistant, expresses 
his good will: 

"Your invitation to the exercises commemorative 
of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Old Stone 
Church came a day or two since, and we appreciate 
your kind remembrance of us in connection therewith. 
I think of you and the work often. I trust the 
approaching celebration may mark the beginning of a 
new era in the life of the Stone Church. God grant 
that it may; and that 'showers of blessing' may 
descend upon pastor and people during the exercises 
and during the weeks and months to follow." 

Rev. Ohauncey W. Goodrich, son of a oeloved Pastor 
of this Church, whom we hoped to have with 
us, expresses his interest and regrets in 
the following terms: 

"Your very kind letter has come duly to hand. I 
need hardly tell you how deeply all of our family are 
interested in this anniversary of the Old Stone 
Church. For myself, whatever diffidence I might 
feel about standing up to speak in that pulpit of so 
many associations, I still could not say 'no' to your 
kind invitation did my circumstances here permit me 
to come. Unfortunately, however, I am not my own 
master in this matter. I am but just established in 
my new charge here in Orange with all that that 
implies and my installation is being arranged for some 
date close to the 20th. The days are not long enough 
for the things that must be done and I could not with- 



22 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



out truancy run away for a single day from my 
people at this juncture. It is with very great regret 
that I write you as I must. I think, however, that 
you know that no light matter would keep me from 
taking part in a service of such significance and 
interest. 

"With sincere regret that I must disappoint you 
and with cordial appreciation of the kindness of your 
invitation, very truly yours." 

Dr. W. W. Atterhury, of New York, once Pastor pro tern, 
in Dr. Goodrich's day, writes warmly : 

"Though unable to accept in person the invitation 
to attend the Seventy-Fifth Anniversary of the dear 
Old Stone Church, 1 am with you in spirit, rejoicing 
with you, both in the rich memories of the past, and 
in confident assurance through God's grace of even 
larger blessing and greater service in the years to 
come. 

"I look back to my brief connection, of a 
little less than a year, with the First Church as one of 
the happiest seasons of my life. It was a privilege to 
preach in the pulpit of my much loved friend, Dr. 
Goodrich, to minister to his people as a pastor during 
his enforced absence, and for his sake to be received 
into the hearts and homes of those who so tenderly 
loved him. It has, too, been a privilege to maintain 
the friendships then formed ; and the hope of meeting 
again those elect men and women, whom I then 
learned to know and love, makes Heaven seem less 
strange and unreal. 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS* 



23 



"But though some of the choicest and dearest have 
finished their work here and gone before, doubtless 
others, faithful and true, have been and will be raised 
up to take the vacant places, and thus the Lord's work 
will be carried on by that grand church, until he come 
again, and saints on earth and saints in Heaven unite 
in celebrating his completed work." 

Mr. H. M. Flagler writes from New York : 

"1 am in receipt of your invitation to be present 
at and participate in the exercises commemorative of 
the Seventy-Fifth Anniversary of the organization of 
the First Presbyterian Church of Cleveland, and I 
desire to express in more than a formal manner, my 
regret that I will be unable to be present. 

"I have ever held in thankful remembrance the 
memory of my connection with the Old Stone Church, 
and I recall the years of my connection with it as the 
most profitable of my Christian experience. You may 
rest assured that you have my best wishes and most 
earnest prayers for its spiritual and temporal 
prosperity." 

Mr. G. W. StocMey, a former member, writes from 
Lakewood, N. J. : 

"I am sincerely obliged to the committee for the 
invitation to attend the commemorative exercises of 
the dear old 'First Church,' or the 'Stone Church,' as 
I like to remember it. It will always retain a warm 
place in my affections, as will all those with whom I 



24 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



was associated in it for so many years. The church, 
the Sunday school, and the associations with pastors, 
officers and members have had, I am sure, a great 
influence for good upon my whole life, and I am 
sincerely grateful." 

Prof. Perrin, of Yale, but once of our congregation, 

writes : 

"I wish I could be in Cleveland at the 75th 
anniversary exercises of the Old Stone Church, the 
program for which looks so inviting. But I am 
submerged in work. I hope the week will be an 
encouraging one to all the many friends of the grand 
old church." 

Dr. James Taylor, of Borne, JV. Y, who has often 
occupied the First Church pulpit, says : 

"I would gladly be with you, and should, I have 
no doubt, be cheered by the rehearsal of your growth 
and the good accomplished for others. But my duties 
are here, where I serve a church that was born more 
than a hundred years ago, and needs to be born again. 
'New graces ever gaining,' etc., is the only hope and 
evidence of pure and permanent spiritual life — 
permanent because pure." 

Rev. H. C. Applegarth, of this city, salutes the 
Church and Pastor: 

"Permit me to extend to you my heartiest con- 
gratulations upon the notable event you and your 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 25 

people are to celebrate the coming week, 75 years of 
loving labor for and with our Risen Lord! Whatever 
statistics may be gathered in the attempt to determine 
the results of that toil, and however full they may be, 
only eternity can unfold the sublime history. May 
increasing years bring to the Church only increasing 
fruitage and joy." 

Miss Agnes Foot, writes from Italy, 

Of her regret at not being here, and after telling 
with genuine enthusiasm of all the wonderful things 
she has seen : "I would not take Europe's grandest 
cathedral in exchange for our dear old church, nor the 
grandest ritual of them all for our simple service. 
The godly men and women who founded it, and those 
who have loyally upheld its services and carried 
forward its work to the present time, are worthy the 
grateful remembrance of all who knew them. I 
believe that our old Stone Church is beloved by all 
who know her, and that her refusal to desert her old 
location has won the esteem and approval of every 
one." 

A letter comes from Mr. John A. Foot, now in Luga/ao, 
Switzerland, full of warm affection 
for the Old Church: 

"Only once since I have been in Europe have I 
wished I was back in America, and specially in Cleve- 
land, and that is now, that I might join in the celebra- 
tion of the 75th anniversary of the dear Old Stone 



26 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



Church. I have attended the services almost fifty 
years. When three years of age, my mother, after 
long persuasion, and many promises of being good, 
took me into the infant class, and fearing I would not 
keep my word kept a sharp lookout for me. I 
remember my teachers, among them Miss Fitch, 
Messrs. Boise, Backus, Smith and Flagler. I remem- 
ber well the old Church, the new one that was burned, 
and the last one that met the same fate and was 
rebuilt. My pastors have been Drs. Aiken, Goodrich, 
Mitchell and yourself. I remember well, at the storm- 
ing of Sumter, how Dr. Goodrich, Mr. Cogswell and 
myself hoisted the American flag on the east steeple, 
which was not as high as it was when torn down. I 
remember, with others, stealing into the Church and 
ringing out the Old and in the New Year. That 
Church has been almost a part of me ever since I was 
born. How, when we had revivals in Dr. Goodrich's 
time, the sexton, John Hurd and I, used to take turns 
in the evening in taking in chairs and opening the 
room for the lectures and prayer meetings. I remem- 
ber well when the first Young People's meeting was 
started at Miss Florence Wick's, now Mrs. D. B. 
Chambers. 

"I remember Dr. Goodrich's illness and Mr. De- 
Witt sending me to sit by his side and watch with 
him. (My strongest recollection is how startled I was 
when I saw him without any hair, never thinking he 
wore a wig). How well I remember when you came, 
if I mistake not about 24 years, almost a quarter of a 
century, ago. What changes have taken place since 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



27 



then. * * * Still with you at the helm and 
our dear Heavenly Father's blessing, the dear old 
Church stands and celebrates its 75th anniversary 
with a goodly following. Myself and all of my 
children were baptized in this same dear old Church. 
I have known all of the superintendents except Miss 
Taylor and Mr. Penfield. Possibly I knew Mr. Pen- 
field but have forgotten him. Well Dr. Haydn I 
think you must be very happy to feel that you have 
been the instrument of doing so much good and that 
your work has been so blessed ; and that all who 
have been members of the church must feel, as I am 
sure they do, that it is well that they have been 
associated with it. Yours affectionately, 

John A. Foot." 

House of Bishops, Minneapolis, ) 
October 9th, 1895. j 

My Dear Dr. Haydn: 

"Your polite invitation to be present and partici- 
pate in the jubilee of the Stone Church is just received, 
and I hasten to acknowledge it with regrets that my 
duties here in General Convention will of course pre- 
vent my attendance at any of your reunions. But 
you will accept my thanks for the kind invitation, and 
my expression of good will and fraternal congratula- 
tion. The noble work for Christ and for humanity 
accomplished by the First Presbyterian Church in 
Cleveland is conspicuous and too well known in our 
entire community to require further description. It 



28 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



has been an inspiration and an example for all the 
churches, and we thank God for His manifest blessing 
vouchsafed to this work. Under your own wise and 
untiring administration, the limitations of your local 
care of souls have been enlarged to the weaker places, 
to the outskirts of our great city, and among the poor 
and ignorant and fallen. For this, your brethren in 
Christ's work, give Him thanks and praise. May your 
work in the remaining years of your service be 
abundantly blessed by Him who alone giveth the 
increase. I am, dear Dr. Haydn, faithfully, 

William Andrew Leonard, 

Bishop of Ohio." 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



29 



ABSTRACT OF A DISCOURSE, 



ANTICIPATORY OF THE ANNIVERSARY, BY THE PASTOR, 
HIRAM C. HAYDN, IN JULY, 1895. 



Psalm 22 : 3-5 and 30 : 1 : "But thou art holy, O 
thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. Our fathers 
trusted in thee ; they trusted and thou didst deliver 
them. They cried unto thee and were delivered ; 
they trusted in thee and were not ashamed. * * A 
seed shall serve him. It shall be counted unto the 
Lord for his generation. They shall come and 
declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be 
born that he hath done it." 

As we near the seventy-fifth anniversary of the 
First Church of Cleveland, we find ourselves turning 
over in our minds the significance of the event. 
We are seeking after the fitting mode of its recog- 
nition — how, with no blare of trumpets, and without 
self-adulation, to worthily commemorate an event, at 
once so tender and so significant. For, first of all, 
this is a church of Christ. He has been its inspiration. 
And surely it is quite possible to speak of the fruit 
of this tree and duly honor the tree, while out of our 
heart of hearts we say : " To thy name, O Christ, be 
all the glory. Thou hast made us, and not we our- 
selves." Whatever of good is found along the course 
of three-quarters of a century is from him. This 
being understood, we may go on and speak without 
reservation. 



30 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



The thing to do in 1820 was to plant the sapling, 
whence the tree, leaving the future to God and his 
people. It was needed then and has been needed ever 
since — is needed now. Its shade was blessed then ; 
it has been ever since. People make the church, and 
the church the people. That is to say — what a church 
shall be depends upon the personnel of its member- 
ship, its official boards, and its pastorate, and they, in 
turn, are influenced by one another, and their asso- 
ciate life — their service together, and the weekly 
ministrations of their worship. 

It is natural for us to look upon the people who 
constituted this church in the first twenty-five years 
of its history as of larger stature than the men of 
to-day. This is not wholly an imaginary view of the 
matter. The pioneers of any time or place are apt 
to be a winnowed people. To pioneer calls for a cer- 
tain stamina which is not possessed by all. To clear 
forests, and plant foundations, and inaugurate the 
movements which grow into churches, schools, col- 
leges, hospitals and municipal governments, may seem 
to many who enjoy the full bloom of these things an 
easy if not a holiday affair. If there be such they 
need to be disabused, and to expect to find that such 
sturdy work found ready for the momentous enter- 
prise men and women equal to the task. For the first 
fifty years, and some of them to a still later period, 
these pioneers survived. A few remain, but the 
greater part have fallen asleep. 

An anniversary like this should call them up. 
Their names are precious, their service for God and 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



31 



man, valued. They made possible what we have 
enjoyed. They labored and we have entered into the 
inheritance they made their own. Such retrospect 
along starred names is not wholly a sorry business. 
It is attended with feelings of pride and satisfaction 
that we knew them and fellowshipped them, were in- 
fluenced by them, prayed and sang, rejoiced and wept 
with them. Moreover, we feel that their works and 
their influence survive them in the church of to-day, 
in the unity of the work of all the years, the living 
organism, which may have changed its constituents 
many times, but is still the same organism. Influence 
persists. Personality outlasts the mutations of time. 
Our work is not done when we die. Though dead the 
fathers speak. It is a pleasure to call them up, and 
to repeople these pews as they were occupied twenty- 
five-years ago. 

This retrospect should become more specific, and 
bring to mind the pastors of this church — Aiken, 
Goodrich, and Mitchell — all of them in glory. The 
associate pastors and the outreaching work with 
which they were associated, all of whom still live and 
are fighting life's battles for themselves and others in 
fields of blessed usefulness. Then come the eldership 
and trusteeship of the church and society, which, 
through all these years have cared for the spiritual 
and temporal interests of this historic church, which 
has survived two fires, and, once and again, outgrown 
its quarters, and branched out into other localities, 
all of which brought with it many and varied respon- 
sibilities. The history of these trusts should be writ- 



32 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



ten and the personnel of these boards once more rise 
up before us. 

The work of the women of the elder society 
was duly chronicled by a gifted pen, years ago. 
This story should be continued into this, the 
fortieth year of its useful ministration. The 
twenty-ninth year of the Goodrich Society should be 
signalized in the same manner. And the twenty-third 
of the Woman's Missionary Society tell what the 
numbered years of its life have done for the world. 
These stories of faith and work cannot be written 
apart from the life history of many who once were 
all alive to this work of women for women, which has 
been a deepening, widening river from the start. The 
Sunday school has a history which is vitally related 
to the life of the church right through, its officers and 
teachers being the picked men and women of each 
generation, and with them the work of the children 
which has always kept step with the church. Here is 
another worthy field for the pen of the chronicler. 

There have been two stages of outgrowth, contin- 
uous with the growth of the city. The first was of 
one into three — the Second, 1844 ; and Euclid ave- 
nue, 1853. And then, the one again branched into 
the North, 1870 ; Bethany, 1889 ; Calvary, 1892 ; and 
Bolton avenue branch, 1890 ; the Madison avenue and 
Glenville churches, our granddaughters, whom the 
grandmother, mainly, set up at housekeeping. Into 
these organizations we have dismissed about 450 mem- 
bers — the Bolton avenue membership still remaining 
with us — and put into them, for their equipment, 
about $123,000. 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



33 



This second period of enlargement has mainly 
come within the last fifteen years, and synchronizes 
with, as yet, the most rapid period of the city's 
growth. Into East Cleveland developments, the old 
First church and Windermere chapel, has gone the 
sum of six thousand dollars additional. Whatever 
may have been thought or said of these outreaching 
movements, nothing is hazarded in saying that the 
next century, now at our threshold, will find, from its 
dawn, onward, an ample field for each, fully justifying 
the planting. This outreaching has been supplement- 
ed by the Presbyterian Union, and a similar work 
of expansion has been carried forward by other 
denominations. Within the area thus practically 
covered can comfortably settle down a million or two 
more of people. So, for the present, this sort of work 
can take a rest. What will be needed next, after 
awhile, will be the enlargement of these plants to 
accommodate a denser population. 

No adequate history of this church and society 
should fail to tell our relation to higher education in 
this city and elsewhere, of which it suffices now to say 
that within seventeen years we have put into this 
cause $2,909,000. Into our church have been received 
(members and pewholders) from the first, 3,991 ; and 
the present enrollment of the entire church is 947. We 
are not as numerous as we were, and the stated income 
from the pews is less than once it was, and the work- 
ers are fewer, but the audiences, morning and evening, 
are up to the average of former years, the bulk of our 
charities has not dwindled, and the work in hand was 



34 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



never greater or more necessary to be done, or more 
immediately fruitful of desired results. 

And this brings me to say that such an anniver- 
sary cannot content itself with retrospect. We of 
to-day have a work in hand, a present status, a part of 
which was made for us, a part of which we 
are ; a responsibility to meet which calls for 
wisdom, courage, and consecration. We recognize 
the changed conditions, but we also face the powers, 
human and divine, which are the same yesterday, 
to-day and forever. These were the inspiration of the 
fathers, and they are ours. The elements which have 
made any age notable, any lives heroic, are ours. Any 
age is great which is great in faith. Faith multiplies 
fewness into a mighty host. A cause which is truly 
great and adequately grasped makes men who are 
equal to the day. Our past is measured by the amount 
and quality of its ministration. All lives, all churches 
are thus to be measured. As the Son of Man came 
not to be ministered unto but to minister, so runs the 
commission of the church. The greatest shall be 
servant of all. 

Now, it is my happiness to know that this has 
been a ministering church. It was early trained to 
this — it must have been — and led along broad and 
outreaching lines. The magnanimity of Dr. Aiken, 
when the church was young, giving out colonies that 
cut to the quick ; the wise and persuasive leadership 
of Dr. Goodrich over the church of his day, which is 
still felt among us, have always impressed me deeply 
and won my admiration. And no church thus shep- 



STONE CHUKCH ANNALS. 



35 



herded in its youth could fail to see in Dr. Arthur 
Mitchell the very embodiment of Christ-like devotion 
and loveliness, and be impressed by it. I have never 
seen, I never expect to see nobler representatives of 
the faith of Christ, or a more lovely and beneficent 
use of wealth, than I have found here ; nor, on the 
whole, a readier willingness on the part of the strong 
to be helpful to the weak. What we need is to glory 
in this very thing ; to see its Christ-like beauty, and 
to be won to it for his sake. What we are called to 
do is only to follow out what I found in progress here 
in 1872. We must continue the thoughtful and loving 
care of the district which environs the church, and 
which was ^then visited systematically by the women 
of the ladies' society, many of whom still survive but 
can do that work no longer. But they can remember 
the days when they did, and the good that came of it, 
and give to the larger work of to-day a sympathy and 
an encouragement for which their own experience has 
prepared them. 

Now, I understand, perhaps as well as anybody, 
the difficulties of our situation. Bat we are not 
solitary in this. I read with utmost attention 
what is being done by churches similarly situated 
in other large cities, eager for any fruits of experience 
which I may garner from them. One thing I observe 
— they are not contracting their work, but broadening 
it. Dr. Alexander and the University Place Church, 
Dr. Thompson and the Madison Avenue Church, Dr. 
Judson's, Washington Square, and many others in 
New York are only driving the more firmly the stakes 



36 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



that fix them to their localities. * * * * I must 
confess that my heart is with them, and I pray 
that yours may be, and that more and more. That is 
the more honorable church connection which has in it 
most of the ministering spirit, and the amplest field 
for its illustration. Men identify themselves with this 
or that church from various considerations — not 
seldom of a purely social and selfish sort. But I am 
sure the opportunity to serve our fellows in the spirit 
of Christ ought to outweigh these politic reasons a 
thousand fold. We ought to put first, and rank as 
greatest, what Christ so designates, himself illustrated, 
and declares will be the standard of judgment in the 
last day. 

For this we have an ample field, and are started 
along lines which may be broadened and deepened, 
embracing the transient people, the worthy poor, and 
especially the children and youth of the vicinage. 
The latter work is so fruitful and far-reaching, and 
evidence of good accomplished so manifest, the grati- 
tude of parents so pronounced, that to extend and 
better it is at once our duty and our privilege, and, 
happily, our expectation. Our dependence must be, 
for the most part, upon the hearty appreciation 
of those long identified with this church, their 
tried loyalty and their full persuasion that we 
have still a mission and a work that can be reached 
from this place, as from nowhere else ; that it 
is worthy of us and the best that is in us ; that 
goes right down to the roots of things and lays 
foundations of character and life in the betterment of 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



37 



homes and the saving of individuals from wanton and 
wasteful life. 

Nor do I share the estimate sometimes put upon 
our strength to do these things. In the face of the 
fact of great losses, deeply felt, and that recruits from 
people of wealth coming into the city cannot here be 
expected, there is still a strong contingent that have 
every qualification for doing great things. In evidence 
I appeal to the annual report of things accomplished 
by those who are at work — to gifts of money, largely, 
it is true, from few sources, the past year amounting 
to $154,504. I appeal to the fact that the income 
from pews has varied so little in the past three years, 
for all the times were so depressed last year and the 
year before, and to the further fact that the strength 
of the parish for service, at any rate, has not yet 
been called out. Perhaps this never will be. 

There are people everywhere whose sympathies 
cannot be enlisted to go or to give, but I am 
happy to think they are few here among us. I 
would be glad to see the younger men and 
women more generally putting their best into this 
work, and touching it more helpfully ; and the wisest 
and most versatile, making the work here more of a 
study ; and all of us concentrating here, from this 
time on, more of thought, time and resources. For 
one, my purpose is fixed, as my duty is clear, to give 
myself, more exclusively to work at this center, and I 
want, bespeak, and must have your earnest co-opera- 
tion in a forward movement. Of this I am confident, 
that no one has put personal service into the 



38 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



work here without finding an adequate reward. 
And we do not become deeply interested in anything 
that does not command our personal presence to see, 
hear, and lend a hand ; or, if this be impossible, that 
we do not take time to study, learn about, and so bring 
intelligently home to us. 

In this day, when, as never before, wealth, 
culture, and learning lend themselves to the 
problem of bettering things, let us make it our 
business to do our part of it, and set afresh about the 
study of conditions hereabouts, and how they may be 
improved and men saved. Let us determine that this 
anniversary year shall be used, not mainly in retrospect 
and vain regrets, but in a resolute and courageous 
grappling with the work to be done, with not a 
thought but that the next twenty-five years that round 
out a century of service for this old church may be 
the best of the hundred. We shall not all of us go to 
the end of this period, but God willing we can help to 
make it such ; and, moreover, make it, in our time, 
possible for them who live to see that day, to come up 
to it with songs of rejoicing and the trophies of war. 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



39 



The Continuity of Life and Influence. 



PREACHED BY THE PASTOR, SUNDAY MORNING, OCT. 13, 
1895, IN VIEW OF THE ANNIVERSARY ABOUT 
TO BEGIN, AND SUGGESTED BY IT. 

John 4:36-8: 

And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto 
life eternal : that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may 
rejoice together. 

And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another 
reapeth. 

I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour : other 
men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours. 

This is the message that comes to you and to me, 
to this generation as to the first. One soweth and 
another reapeth. Others have labored and ye have 
entered into their labors. 

We may, at first, blush, be a little dissatisfied 
that our partnership with others should be so close 
and interlocked, and since reaping is the cap-sheaf of 
life, to be appointed to reap the sowing of others and 
not our own. 

There may also seem, at first thought, to be a 
contradiction of the saying of an Apostle, whatsoever 
a man soweth that shall he also reap. But the 
reference here is not to the same thing. The Apostle 
is speaking of personal character, of the habits of men 
and the use they make of their opportunities, as 
affecting themselves. He tells them that they cannot 
get away from themselves, and that an abused self-hood 



40 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



will avenge itself on itself ; and an honored self-hood 
will bring to itself the supreme satisfactions of life. 

But Christ is speaking of the wider relations of a 
man to his fellows and to the world he lives in, to the 
way in which fathers prepare the way of their children 
and they in turn influence them that come after; to the 
way in which one generation of men steps into the 
work of former generations, and leaves to another its 
own unfinished plans. 

As concerns individual character this day's living 
reports itself immediately. To-day's debauch writes 
its story to-day on nerve, and tissue, and tendency. 
Out in the wide world-field, building up a nation, a 
city, a church, evangelizing a land, one generation may 
spend itself in obscurity, successive generations may 
seem to be moving at a snail's pace towards the 
distant goal, and would absolutely have lived in vain 
but for that continuity of life and influence which sets 
one generation in the steps of the receding, and allows 
no break. A great principle is touched here, old as 
time and broad as the world, which it is of great 
consequence to get hold of — of the utmost interest, as 
welL 

See the foreshadowing of this weighty matter in 
the building work of a world as outlined in Genesis. 
Out of chaos to build a universe, and whatever may 
be true of other worlds, to get one ready for the 
divine-imaged man to act his part on. One, two, three, 
four, five great stages of preparation, each running 
through vast periods of time. Two built upon one, 
three built up on one and two, five, on all the four 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



41 



preceding. All five needed to make a dwelling-place 
for the man who is coming. One Aeon sows and 
another reaps ; also, sows for the next to reap. The 
principle of succession holds, even though a man 
interprets the six days as of twenty-four hours each. 

But see how human history evolves after the same 
fashion. Suppose that with the departure of each 
generation the decks were cleared of their work and 
of the records of their experience, for a new one to 
begin its work. They shall not enter into the labors 
of their ancestors. They shall do their own work and 
live their own life, detached from all that went before 
and is to follow. There could then be no history, no 
progress. History and progress are possible because 
each succeeding generation is heir to all that has gone 
before. 

Hebrew history begins with Abram, but Abram 
does not leave Ur of the Chaldees empty-handed, 
empty-headed. He has a great fund of experience to 
draw upon. The libraries of this book and priestly 
city of Ur contain the gathered wisdom of the past. 
The voice that comes to him from God and the 
urgency that is upon him, come through the traditions 
of a still more primitive age and people. They have 
a hand in the making of this man Abram, soon to be 
styled, Friend of God, and Prince among men, father 
of the faithful through teeming centuries. In character 
reaping as he went the harvest of his sowing, as Paul 
says; as related to the Hebrew people and the purpose 
of God that in him should all the families of the earth 
be blessed, sowing for others to reap, as he was 



42 



STOKE CHURCH ANNALS. 



privileged to reap the wisdom of centuries before him. 

We speak of the glory of the age of Solomon, but 
without a David there had been no Solomon. The 
glory of the Solomonic age is shot through with the 
glory of the Davidic. David getting ready the material 
of the temple for Solomon to build it, is typical of 
what is going on everywhere. David sowed stones 
and cedar trees, gold and silver, conquests of enemies 
round about through bloody wars, amicable relations 
with great powers to the north of him, that Solomon 
might reap peace and wealth from the tribute of the 
conquered, and build the temple and the royal palaces, 
and ships to go to Ezion-geber, and pursue the studies 
congenial to himself, meanwhile himself sowing the 
seeds of discord and corruption of the faith, and 
mesalliance with alien blood, for his son and the people 
of Israel to reap in a dismembered kingdom; and even 
David is only the culmination of a series, and his work 
is possible because of Saul, and Samuel, and Moses. 
They are all here, in that august hour, when the 
finished temple is filled with the glory of Jehovah, the 
proudest moment of Solomon's life. And there is not 
a church called by the name of the Christ, nor a 
mosque from whose minaret tower issues the call to 
prayer in Allah's name, that is not linked with this 
same temple, where for the first time Jehovah's name 
was associated with structures of wood and stone. 

Any one can see that the Victorian era of English 
history, whose marvellous strides have no parallel 
elsewhere, and which throws into shadow by its 
exceeding brightness, all that went before through a 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



43 



thousand years, is the harvest-time of the sowing of all 
that long travail of generation following generation, 
whose resultant is the English nation of to-day. This 
little island has all been fought over. Norman, Dane, 
Celt and Saxon have all had a hand in its making. 
Feudal castles everywhere tell of a stage in this 
building process, once vital, long since passed away. 
The civil and religious liberty of this day is the price 
of martyr blood that flowed like water. This throne 
and sceptre, for half a century so honored, what a 
succession trends away back into the past. Go to 
Westminster Abbey and see. Great cathedrals all 
over England tell of a religious cult no longer extant, 
but represented in the Church of England, whose child 
she is. 

Not to enlarge; all through, it is one generation, 
one reign sowing and another reaping, the last 
gathering up all the best of all that went before, and 
sowing the world with the ample resources, the 
gathered wisdom, the open Bibles, the civil rights, the 
sense of justice, the civilization of the most wondrous 
era of the world, thus far. 

To come closer home, no one will pretend that our 
Pilgrim fathers reaped what they sowed from 1620 on. 
Nor did they of the Colonial period, through the 
slow-moving century and a half to the war of 
Independence. They avowed their unselfish purpose 
to spend themselves for posterity. They were happy 
in the thought that others would enter into their 
labors. They gloried in the vision of a ripened 
harvest, which only whitened to their faith. These 



44 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



sentiments were voiced by the nation's leaders, all 
through the period of the revolution, and echoed back 
from the firesides where sacrifice left its scars and 
wrote its heroic annals. They had, indeed, reaped a 
harvest from the sowing of the seed of the kingdom 
in martyr-blood, harrowed into the soil of ther lives 
by persecution. They gathered of the precious grain 
in the full belief that to sit down and munch it all in 
selfishness was to rob the world and impoverish the 
generation that was to be. 

No harvest is ever gathered that is not 
meant, in part, to be the mother of harvests 
yet to be. Every reaper must be a sower, or rob 
the world of a harvest that is its due. They 
had no quarrel with the plans of God and the ordering 
of His world. They had reaped the harvest of a 
costly sowing, they would sow the seed of one no less 
precious for their children to reap. And so it came 
to pass that the expatriated of the old world became 
the founders of the new ; and the colonies grew into 
the nation, and the nation struggled on, through con- 
flict of opinion, and strife of words, and clash of arms, 
till the years of a century are numbered, but the whole 
hundred are garnered into the last, the winnowed 
wheat, the residuum that came out of the fires un- 
touched, and somewhat of the evil that always goes 
with the good, the harvesting of the latest born. 

This is the way the church has grown from one 
hundred and twenty, in an upper chamber in old 
Jerusalem, a church not yet out of the broken shell of 
Judaism, into a world-wide faith. It is a broken shell, 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



45 



this Judaism. It cannot hold for long the imprisoned 
life. This church inherits much from the past. It 
owes much to the future. How much do I owe the 
future ? All I have got out of the past, with interest. 
This church of the first generation must sow that the 
next may live, and reap, and sow again. This is 
life's process everywhere. 

Centuries of religious stagnation lie between us 
and the apostolic age, because this principle was not 
duly honored. Content to harvest, and not sow that 
others might also reap, their selfishness avenged itself 
in degenerate life. We reap to live, but we sow to 
make it worth while to live, and to make possible a 
better and brighter future, for the world. But for 
this law obeyed, the church had never gotten out of 
Jerusalem. The beginning had been the end. No- 
body that plucks the fruit from this tree of life but is 
bound to sow the seeds that other men may live. 
There is not a continent, nor an island of the sea, nor 
a tribe or people, made Christian except as this law of 
life has been honored. 

Because it has never been allowed to drop out 
of sight, the Christendom of this closing decade 
of the nineteenth century is seen to be linked 
with Pentecost, and the church which persecu- 
tion scattered abroad. What is this Christendom of 
today? What that was, is told in a few paragraphs in 
the Acts. No most gifted pen can fully outline this 
and not write a volume. It sweeps all climes, all 
continents, all seas, all races of men. One in three of 
all the world's populations professes, in some sort, to 



4:6 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



own the name of Christ. The great civilizing forces 
of the age, the leash that holds in check the mightiest 
armies of history, the word of command that controls 
the fleets that sail all seas, rest with Christian powers. 
They practically dominate all lands and peoples. 

What is behind it all? What has made this cen- 
tury so essentially different from the first? It is 
obedience to the command of our Lord Christ. "Go, 
teach all nations! When one falls let another take his 
place, and sow the seed of the kingdom which is the 
word of God. Harvesting will follow." They went. 
They scattered themselves, these of the loyal legion, 
over Europe, Africa, America, the islands of the sea, 
one generation sowing and another reaping, and so on 
and on. That is how it came to pass that there is a 
Europe, an England, a United States of America, a 
Cleveland and a First Presbyterian Church in it. 
And yet, some people do not believe in missions! 

And now that I have, at last, got to Cleveland, it 
is scarcely necessary to do more than remind you of 
its history — which is all too young not to be familiar — 
to have you see, that we have come to this hour, gen- 
eration following generation, working along this line. 
In no manner else could we have got here. This gen- 
eration cannot say, see this great city that we have 
builded. The building of this city goes back of early 
settler and red man, to the time when God was plow- 
ing out the valley of the Cuyahoga and making possi- 
ible a harbor for a great fleet of ships. Nor is there 
any sundering chasm between straggling, miasmatic, 
uncanny hamlet, and thrifty village, and populous 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



47 



city, aspiring to be the first in the commonwealth. 
The villager is here. The men of the twenties are 
here in the nineties. Other men labored, and we 
have entered into their labors. Badger and Brad- 
street, and Aiken and Goodrich and Mitchell are all 
here in the First Church, and the noble generation of 
men and women whom we have followed to their 
graves, one by one, live on amongst us, through that 
continuity of life and influence which finds its fullest, 
noblest illustration in institutions — the church and the 
nation. 

We should, by all means, now gather up some 
lessons of practical worth. 1. Rightly appre- 
hended, here is ground for a true humility. Boasting 
is excluded when no man can say of anything signifi- 
cant in his life or doing, "this is exclusively mine. It 
has no roots in the past, and partnership in any other, 
there is none!" Of what can this be said? First of 
all, every sane man sees that for what he is must be 
recognized, in some degree, often in great degree, the 
character of the family tree of which he is a branch, 
and what was done for him in the cradle and thence 
forward. And then, beginning to work, no matter 
where or on what, he could make no absolutely new 
start. Who, a builder in church or state, in schools 
of learning or avenue of trade, does not know and 
gladly recognize his indebtedness to the past; and 
but for that past, his work must have been quite other 
than it is. Fix your eyes on the college that was 
transplanted from Hudson, or this church established 
here among the alder bushes, now standing in the 



48 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



heart of a great commercial city, and tell me who is 
so conceited as not to own to himself — "I have a mis- 
sion because my forerunners made history in their 
day. Had they not sown, my harvest had been thin. 
Nine-tenths of this structure lies behind me. Let me 
not be high minded, but humble." 

2. So far from paralyzing effort, herein lies its 
great incentive. True, I cannot separate and view 
apart the fruit of my own effort; it goes into the 
common stock of effort that is building up the church, 
the school, the community. But nothing so surely 
conserves all worthy effort as institutions which are to 
live on in some form or other. The form may change, 
but the thing in its essence abides. A little pulley is 
a small affair in the great network of machinery, but 
without it there would be friction. A boy is a small 
force among a hundred men, but the boy may be 
essential to the best use of the hundred. And boy 
and pulley tell for far more because of their partner- 
ship with others in a great work, than could they, 
worked apart from all such co-operation. 

We are often concerned about our little doing. It 
seems insignificant, and even so, we cannot gather it up. 
We think of them who pass away in an untimely hour 
as it seems to us. They were not permitted to reap 
the harvest of their sowing. They saw not the land 
of promise towards which they toiled. But it was worth 
while for Moses to bring the children of Israel out of 
bondage and to the border of the promised land, 
though he, himself, might not enter. He was work- 
ing on a very broad plan, which he could not begin to 



STONE CHUKCH ANNALS. 



49 



comprehend, and his part was vital to its fulfillment. 
It was worth while for David to gather up the material 
for the temple whose walls and golden spires he 
might not see. But David went into the temple. The 
essential David, and Moses went into Canaan, and 
they both walk the earth wherever the living oracles 
are taken abroad, and the sweet songs of Israel are 
sung, and the ten great words are said. So the 
fathers are with us, and the mothers in our Israel, 
the young men and maidens, and the stalwart in their 
prime — all they who, first and last, have sat within 
these walls and wrought here for Christ. O yes, a 
great cloud of witnesses, their work and our work 
knitted into the same web, one and entire unto this 
day. When we see truly we shall understand that this 
is the true glory of life, that, so far from being set 
apart to a little task, all by ourselves, to write our 
name upon when done, we are taken into a great, 
glorious, divine fellowship, upon a building of God 
whose topmost stone shall be brought forth with 
rejoicing, and sowers and reapers shall be glad to- 
gether in one hallelujah shout — "Glory to God in the 
highest." No worker, ever so humble, nor honest 
effort though weak, will fail of being gathered into the 
structured kingdom, upon which the saints of all the 
ages have wrought. 

3. Rightly viewed, as we see, our work thus goes 
on when our visible presence is no more a part of it. 
Indeed the best of it may issue in result after we are 
gone. It could not be if everything had stopped 
when the fathers went, or were to stop when we retire. 



4 



50 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



To the superficial view, men never seem of so little 
consequence, as when we see how, their bier having 
passed by, the great tide of affairs moves right on, un- 
resting. A moment men pause and look up — "Gone ! " 
and settle down to their work, till their time comes. 
Nobody seems essential to anything. We thought 
everything rested on the shoulders of such an one, 
and lo! there is no collapse, nor scarce a tremor, now 
that those shoulders are withdrawn. It is well that 
the affairs of the world do not stop, when, to human 
view, we stop. 

But we do not stop. The men who have 
shepherded this flock in days gone by still wield 
their crook over it. Livingston is more alive today 
than when, wan and in rags, he knelt to die in the 
thatched hovel of Illala. We make our stand upon 
such as he, that we may learn to see that this is true of 
all genuine life. Sherlock J. Andrews is just as much 
alive to me as when he sat down there in the pew, a 
listener to inspire a preacher; and I said — well, if such 
a man can get anything out of discourses like mine, 
I'll peg away. To me these aisles are full of men who 
will never die. They make sacred the work to which 
we put our hand; the steps into which we put our 
feet. Beware ye who enter into the labors of such as 
these, in pulpit and in pew, that in no mean way ye enter. 

4. First in the family, and next in the church, 
this principle of continuity and partnership in interest 
holds with supreme force. 

How many of us must say, if we speak truly — 
"Our parents, our grandparents, labored, and we have 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



51 



entered into their labors. Our inheritance from them 
has made us what we are. These things that stand in 
my name do not represent my industry and economy. 
I am one who entered into a door that another hand 
set ajar, and here 1 am." True, wherefore art thou 
here? It takes a deal of sense to enter into the labors 
of others. Our own labors, if we have any, we know 
the cost of — we know not the cost of others' labors. 
What do we know of the cost of pioneer life? But for 
pioneer life, where were we? Try to know the cost of 
your inheritance from the past that you may know 
how to carry yourself therein. For some seem to 
have no sense of privilege and responsibility in the 
labors of others into which they enter. They shut the 
door quick behind the retreating form, and set them- 
selves down in the midst of the toils and economies of 
past generations, as a grub burrows in a nut till the 
meat is all gone — and is a grub still. 

Nay, nay! This thy harvest of other men's labors 
is thy seed-corn to sow the world with, that other men 
may reap in due time, also. Wouldst thou make thy 
harvest, the last? Shall the sickles of the next gener- 
ation lie rust eaten because the grain lies hoarded in 
thy bin? Wouldst thou breed a famine of the bread 
of noble deeds and words by which men live? Thy 
measure of privilege and of obligation towards the 
world is the measure of thy inheritance, plus what you 
can make of it. Hoarded gold gathers no interest. 
Wheat, in mummy chests, ripens into no harvest. 
Scatter, that other men may reap even as thou dost. 
Labor, that when thou goest the way of all the earth, 



52 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



there may be something worth while for other men to 
enter into. 

This is the great incentive to the realization of 
life's end in the family, in society, and in the church 
of God. We need sense to see it and grace to use it — 
and all as parts of one great whole not yet disclosed, 
all as bearing upon the one, enduring kingdom of our 
Lord Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and in 
earth are named. This it is that gives significance to 
such an anniversary as we now approach. And while 
we duly honor the past, let us be more concerned to 
honor the future, for the future is always greater than 
the past. 

1 can have but scant sympathy — nay, none what- 
ever, with a man who, in full vision of what this 
church has been to this community and the world, to 
individuals and households for three-quarters of a cen- 
tury, is not stirred up to do her honor. Not every 
one among us has been saintly, not everything, prob- 
ably, has been wisely planned and carried out. If we 
are after the flies in the ointment we can most likely 
find them. But is this the best way to honor a church 
which has enrolled nearly four thousand souls, and 
ministered to vastly more in those matters which we 
profess to believe of chiefest concern to us and to all 
men? Is this the best way to send her on her forward 
path with courage and hope? Fulsome adulation is 
hateful. Boasting is unbecoming. A hypercritical 
spirit is always unfruitful, but a candid recognition of 
a worthy service, worthily rendered, is honorable alike 
to all concerned. 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



53 



Seventy-Fifth Anniversary sermon. 

1820-4895* 



PREACHED BY THE PASTOR, SUNDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 
20, 1895, FIRST CHURCH OF CLEVELAND. 

Isaiah 60:22: 

The little one shall become a thousand, and the small one a 
strong nation : I, the Lord, will hasten it in its time. 

It is not my intention this morning to enter into 
the history of this church, except in a casual way. I 
shall not speak of those who have been making history 
here for seventy-five years. This ground I have trav- 
ersed with you many times, and in the program of the 
week, justice will be done to the leaders and the led in 
the story of our past. Eather would I turn, first of 
all, to a glance at some features of the period through 
which this church has held on its way. 

I. It will help us to get our bearings to recall that 
when this church was planted, James Monroe was 
President of the United States, twenty-three in all, 
with a population of less than ten millions. John 
Marshall was Chief Justice, Salmon P. Chase was a 
school boy in New Hampshire, Abraham Lincoln a 
boy of eleven in Kentucky, and Grant was not yet 
born. California belonged to Mexico ; we had no 
Pacific coast, and no highway over the Rockies. In 
politics it was the year of the Missouri compromise, 
designed to put a limit to the area of slavery. In 
England, George the Third dies and is succeeded by 



54 



STONE CHUKCH ANNALS. 



George the Fourth. Napoleon languishes on St. 
Helena, to die a year later. Alexander II is Czar of 
Kussia, and Mahmond II, Sultan of Turkey, is the 
terror of the East. The unveiling of Africa is scarcely 
begun, Japan and China are practically closed to the 
outside world, and India, through great tribulation, is 
being brought under the sceptre of Great Britain. 
There was neither railroad nor telegraph. Indeed, the 
first stage into Cleveland came through from the east 
in 1820, and not till two years later did the first 
steamer plow the waters of Lake Erie. The village of 
Cleveland had a population of one hundred and fifty, 
and stretched ambitiously towards Erie street, but 
could not reach it. There were now two churches in 
the village, too weak to be self-supporting, a house of 
worship for either of them being a thing of the far- 
away future. 

The land-marks of 1820, wherever seen, on the 
face of this habitable globe, set in the light of our day, 
seem to take us back among the ancients. So much 
has been wrought in three-quarters of a century, the 
annals of the years are so crowded with momentous 
events, the mind, conscious of its limitations, confesses 
its but partial grasp of the prodigious movement 
which has changed the face of the world. 

It will be seen that this period covers the Victo- 
rian era, the brightest in British annals ; the unveiling 
and partition of Africa ; the bringing of the Asiatic 
continent into touch with the civilized world, and the 
transformation of J apan ; the occupation of Australia 
and the Pacific Isles ; the overthrow of slavery in the 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



55 



States, and the beginning of the end every where ; 
and the commemoration of the centennial of this 
nation in a manner never before parallelled since time 
was young. 

These events, far and near, constitute the environ- 
ment of our church life through these eventful years. 
They have had their effect upon us. They have made 
their impress upon the thinking and the character, the 
individual and collective life of hamlet and village and 
city. The history of this church is a part of the 
history of the world. 

Tucked into this little corner of Lake Erie, gradu- 
ally overshadowed by the city's greatness, as these 
towering, many-storied blocks belittle warehouses, 
once thought to be stately, we may seem to have lived 
our life in seclusion. We may think it far-fetched to 
link the life of a church with another hemisphere ; as 
if it made any difference with us who is on the throne 
of England, France, Russia, or what is going on in 
Asia or Africa, or what the issue of the wars that in 
this our day, beyond all the wars of the ages, have 
rocked Europe, Asia and America. 

The fact is that, just as the rising tide finds and 
fills every little nook and cranny of the great coast 
line of the sea, so the changed conditions of empire, 
the great upheavals of society, the birth and decay of 
nations, the benediction of letters, music and art, make 
themselves felt in remotest hamlets, and nurse into 
greatness by humblest firesides, the susceptible spirits 
of the men and women of the future. And many an 
obscure cottage or artisan's bench, in towns too insig- 



56 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



nificant to find a place on a map, has been lifted into 
fame, when a Carey, a Livingstone, a Lincoln, respond- 
ing to these influences, from parts near and remote, 
rise up to the task of their lives, and send back to 
every corner of the earth an influence which adds 
somewhat to the betterment, not only of the known 
but of the, as yet, unknown segment of mankind. 

It does make a difference in what age we live, and 
what is going on in it. It is a good thing to have 
one's life run on, in any part of it, contemporaneous 
with the great lights of English letters and science. 
Scott, Coleridge, Keats and Wordsworth live into this 
our day ; Brewster, Faraday, Darwin and Tyndal ; 
Carlyle and Macauley, Thackeray and Dickens, 
Browning, Tennyson and Ruskin, Charlotte Bronte and 
George Elliot, people of yesterday; and to have 
claimed as men of our own time, Longfellow and 
Whit tier, Holmes and Lowell and Emerson ; Webster, 
Sumner and Wendell Phillips ; Bushnell, Beecher and 
Phillips Brooks ; and of theologians, Taylor, Parks, 
Smith and Hodge ; and to have felt the inspiration of 
a missionary era in the church, such as this has 
notably been. 

II. What have we seen in this our day? 1. We 
have seen the conditions of human life completely 
revolutioned by industrial science through its mastery 
over the subtle and the more obvious forces of nature. 
This is a subject too vast to enter upon here. But, as 
to the means of communication, by travel, or through 
the mails, near or far ; the instantaneous flash of 
thought from continent to continent, the possibility of 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



57 



conversing, Clevelander with Chicagoan or New 
Yorker, without leaving the fireside ; the reduction of 
letter post from twenty-five cents to two; the speed of 
the locomotive raised from six to seventy miles an 
hour; an ocean passage by steam cut from fifteen days 
to less than six ; from the sailing packet, six weeks, to 
one ! If this means much to commerce, it means no 
less to the church, set for the conquest of the world. 

Or looking at machinery, from the tilling of the 
soil to every fabric of loom, or furnace ; in the work- 
ing of mines, the tunnelling of mountains, and 
construction of harbors, revolution has followed 
revolution, throwing, at every great movement, new 
problems upon society and the church. 

Weapons of destruction have made war so terrible 
as almost to confine it to the aggressions of the strong 
upon the weak, and to force the great powers of the 
world to be at peace among themselves. 

In the whole field of literature, from the newspaper 
to ponderous tome — style, quality, quantity — any one 
able to call up a child's book or reader of half a cen- 
tury ago — the illustrations, type, press-work, contents 
and cost — and put it side by side with the typical 
book, magazine, newspaper of today, has in hand one 
of the most suggestive evidences of the advance that 
has been made, putting, as it were, a millenium be- 
tween us and the men of 1820. 

Of course, this is not, all in all, to be put to the 
credit side of life. But all these things, and the like 
of them, we have seen, and they have had to do with 
the social and religious life of the people, with the 



58 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



practical outcome of our Christianity. They make it 
self-evident that our problems are quite other than the 
problems of our fathers. Herein are found opportuni- 
ties which, utilized, will hasten the foretold day when 
the knowledge of the Lord shall fill the earth, and the 
brotherhood of all men, the unity of all races shall 
stand confessed. 

2. We have seen great changes in theologic 
thought brought about by the inductive study of the 
Bible and a better knowledge of the world's past. The 
religious world of today, as it voices itself in print, in 
thought, in deed and life, is far removed from that of 
1820. Some of us may think the change for the 
worse rather than the better. We may think that since 
the Bible of today is, chapter and verse, the Bible of 
our fathers, religious thought and belief ought to be 
stationary. But then, they are not, nor should they 
be. The men of 1820 had no more got out of the 
Bible all there was in it, than they had got out of 
nature all there was in her. 

The Bible used to be approached from the side of 
the creeds. Men were taught to believe so and so, 
and went to the Bible to prove it. Now, men go to 
the Bible to try to find out what it teaches, and, if 
need be, to revise their creeds. The Bible has been 
put in the focal light of Archaeology and Biblical 
Geography. It is read with a better understanding of 
the man and the times, the real purpose of prophet 
and apostle, whose thought we are trying to get at. 

We are seeing that Eevelation is progressively 
given, and are holding the Old Testament to its 



STONE CHUECH ANNALS. 



59 



appointed task, and judging it by that, rather than 
imposing upon it the loftier standard of the new. We 
are seeing, more clearly than ever before, that God 
has not left Himself without a witness among other 
peoples and in other faiths, till in the fulness of times 
He sent forth His son. This has not accrued to the 
disparagement of the Christian faith, nor made the 
Bible less a book for the people; but God is appre- 
hended as more lovable, more father-like, more imme- 
diately nigh at hand, more certainly the God and 
father of all men, and who will have all men to be 
saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 

Sin is seen to be not less terrible, righteousness is 
not less resplendent, penalty not less sure to follow 
upon sin but less arbitrary, redemption is not less a 
necessity for man, viewed in the light of the new 
science of heredity and environment. The Gospel was 
never more needed than when the appeal of the 
material world is so incessant and urgent, and the 
rigor of law is emphasized. 

The transition, of which we are all conscious, is 
one, 1 think, not so much of views as of view, and 
must be judged by its fruit. It must make men not 
less serious but more earnest, devout and righteous. 
No change of belief, is matter of congratulation, if it 
does not lead out to something nobler and grander, and 
make better men. One has well said, that progress in 
religion "must seek not merely for new notions and 
ideas, but for a larger and deeper sight of God; and 
must test itself, and let itself be freely tested, by the 
eternal and universal standards of devoutness and 



60 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



morality." Of the transition there can be no doubt. 
Will it bear this test ? But now 

3. We have also seen the life of the church 
express itself in unwonted missionary zeal at home 
and abroad, and in attempts to apply the teachings of 
Jesus to all the real problems of our time. The mis- 
sionary and humanitarian agencies of the church are 
counted by the thousand, but nearly all of them date 
their birth since this church was organized. Indeed, 
the greater part of them are not more than twenty-five 
years old, and but few ante-date the middle of this 
century. 

The American Board ante-dates this church by ten 
years, the American Bible Society by four. As with 
this church, so with them, it took a long while to get 
under way ; but like everything else in this half cen- 
tury, the march of Christianity has been marvellous. 
The American Mission force began to go into Africa 
when this church was a year old. The Moravians and 
a few English missionaries had gone into South Africa 
before them. Today there are a thousand missionary 
stations, in a continent, then shrouded in densest gloom, 
now partitioned off among the great powers of Europe; 
the story of whose unveiling is full of the heroism 
born of faith. 

It is but yesterday that Khama, a South African 
prohibitionist Chief, stood up in the City Temple, 
London, before a vast congregation, to say: "The 
work in which we stand today is the work of goodness; 
the work that excels all work in real goodness; the 
work we find in the land is the work that tires men 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



61 



and passes away; the work of God has no ending and 
goes on ever before us. I have been trying to help all 
my young people to go forward in learning, in schools, 
and things like this. And 1 say that that town is a 
town of beauty where the work of God is taken up 
with both hands." This scene is typical of the Africa 
of today. 

Twenty-two years ago a newspaper had never been 
issued in Japan. In one city, Tokyo, there are now 
seventeen dailies ; in the empire seven hundred period- 
icals ; in elementary schools 3,000,000, and the 
imperial edict runs thus : "It is intended that hence- 
forth education shall be so diffused that there may not 
be a village with an ignorant family, nor a family with 
an ignorant member." Yet when this church was 
fifty years old the empire was still placarded with 
bulletins forbidding the profession of Christianity on 
pain of death. Christ went before the great awakening 
and the new birth of the Japanese empire. Four 
hundred churches and its Christian colleges and semi- 
naries are at the heart of her immense progress. 
These events are typical of Japan. 

When this church was organized converts on 
foreign fields were hard to find. But O, the wonderful 
power of God these years in the Sandwich Islands, in 
India, Persia, Japan. Wherever this gospel has been 
taken abroad, the race of martyrs has been multiplied. 
Now from one Lord's Day to another, two thousand 
are added to those who are being saved, on foreign 
soil alone — 100,000 a year ! The East India Company, 
that scoffed at Carey's coming to India and forbade 



62 



STONE CHUECH ANNALS. 



his landing, set the British flag at half mast when he 
died, forty years later. And the London Times, that 
used to scoff, now treats with consideration the great 
gatherings of Indian missionaries. These, too, are 
typical facts. 

Since 1820 the Bible, in whole or in part, has 
been put into about two hundred and fifty new 
dialects and tongues ; and in Uganda, invoice after 
invoice, is speedily exhausted, with something of 
the eagerness with which the revised New Testament 
was welcomed in this country. 

I sieze these few typical facts, just to show, (1) that 
the progress of the kingdom, extensively, is not a whit 
behind the march of events in other realms of thought 
and action. Nay, that they play into each other's 
hands, and the whole vast stir is not truly seen till it 
is apprehended that the providence of God is over it 
all ; and (2) that the transitional period of belief 
has been attended by the greatest progress of the 
kingdom through world-wide effort. The nobler and 
the more real, to us, the character of God, the better 
life and work. Nor has this outreach been to the 
neglect of claims near at hand. The development of 
this continent has mostly come to pass within our day. 
Chicago was settled in 1831, four years before Dr. 
Aiken came to Cleveland, three years before the 
fifteen-year-old church, to which he came, was sheltered 
in a house of worship. 

Stand at the Sault Ste. Marie for a day, in thought, 
and bring the unbroken stillness and charm of the 
rapids in 1820 along side the tremendous traffic that 



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63 



presses through these locks, and think that seventeen 
million tons of freight are expected to pass from Lake 
Superior to the ports below in 1895. Let these facts 
be taken as typical of the development of the 
country. 

But is this any more wonderful than to be told 
that, voluntarily, the churches of Christ have under- 
taken to keep pace with the march of improvement 
across the continent, and put the school and the 
church on the same train with the emigrant, these to be 
followed by the academy and the college at the cost 
of millions of dollars ? Or take the actual working 
of the churches in cities that antedate our own and 
contrast what was thought to be the mission of the 
church then and now, or the work of the churches 
here, before and since the war. Intensively and at 
close range, the church, with all her derelictions, is 
alive to the demands of the age, and seeks to adapt 
herself to the needs of all sorts and conditions of men. 
She is not reading her Bible amiss ; verily, our eyes 
have seen great things. We have been a part, how- 
ever humble, of great movements, as well as had our 
being in a marvellous time. 

III. What have we stood for ? 1. This church 
has stood as a witness to the saving power of 
the Gospel of Christ. It has had a succession 
of ministers who believed that the Gospel is the 
power of God unto salvation to every one that 
believeth, that it is a Gospel of sweet reasonableness and 
fulness of all comfort. To preach it they were com- 
missioned. Preach it they did, and what they preach- 



64 



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ed they tried to live. Along with the stated means of 
grace they have welcomed from time to time the evan- 
gelist, sometimes to edification, sometimes not, but 
glorious times of refreshing have been here enjoyed, 
and about 4,000 have joined themselves to us, as an 
organization. 

It has been essential to our conception of the 
Gospel that this church should be New School and 
progressive ; conservative, and yet willing to be taught, 
and making room for all established facts, with a 
welcome for the new light ever breaking on the world. 
In 1853 the Rev. Frederick J. Brown, in a foot-note to 
a printed sermon, gives it as his confident opinion that 
"if the two systems of doctrines — New and Old School 
— could be placed side by side, in all their fulness, 
before the Presbyterians of Cleveland, there could not 
be found in the city a sufficient number of New School 
to compose exceeding one self-sustaining church!" Dr. 
Brown failed to get these doctrines before the churches 
in fulness, or else he was mistaken. He must have 
been mistaken, for the one Old School church to which 
he ministered is long since extinct. 

The Old School was and is tethered to the past. 
In the thirties it tried for heresy such men as Albert 
Barnes and Lyman Beecher. In 1837 it cited the 
judicatories to purge the church of existing evils ; it 
exscinded four synods, three in New York, and the 
Western Reserve with special emphasis, as defective 
in doctrine ; and then the church was rent in twain. 
That is Old Schoolism now. History repeats itself. 

The New School Assembly met here in 1857, 



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65 



recorded its testimony against slavery, and twenty 
Southern members withdrew. It met here again, after 
the re-union, in 1875, when the honey-moon of that 
union was crescent. Loyal to Christ, His word and 
kingdom, to us He is greater than assemblies, and His 
word authoritative over Confessions, and the liberty 
wherewith Christ makes free is still the heritage of all 
good Presbyterians, if they will to have it. I agree 
with one who says : "The world waits, and we must 
pray and labor, not for a more complete and logical 
theology, but for a more real and true and living 
Christianity." 

2. This church has stood for the people. It has 
always been cosmopolitan. There has always been 
here no proscription of race or class. If anything of 
this sort has cropped out it has been individual and 
not the mind of the church. It has for long made 
the church wholly free half the time, and open to 
everybody all the time. It has enrolled among its 
members rich and poor together. Nor is this all. It 
has heard the Master's "to every creature," and 
believed that He was lifted up for all, and gone about 
it ; is at it yet. We regard it as a dreadful thing, an 
act of disloyalty to the Master to abridge that com- 
mission, the intent of which is that all the kingdoms 
of this world shall become His. The church for the 
people and the people for the church, this is our 
motto. 

3. This church has stood for a Sabbath service, 
dignified, devotional and inspiring. Dr. Goodrich led the 
way in those innovations which brought the Creed, the 



5 



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STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



Lord's Prayer and the Kesponsive Reading into the 
service. It was not done without friction. Some of 
the older members resented it, but acquiesced, and of 
some of them it is true that they came to love it. 

Emphasis has been put upon sacred music from an 
early day. The gift of song was with the pioneers. 
Pioneer and not sing! The choir serving here has 
almost always been churchly, that is, composed some- 
times wholly, always in part, of members of this or 
other churches, with a sense of the fitness of things, 
and of a mission to lead the service of song, elevate 
the taste of the people, inspire and comfort them, and 
then, when not so occupied, to realize themselves 
members of the congregation, entitled to the privilege 
of doing just what is fit and proper for anybody else 
to do in the house of God, during worship. These 
choirs are remembered with gratitude to God, in spite 
of occasional disappointments. It is said that when 
the first house of worship on this site was dedicated 
the singing was most inspiring, that the 24th Psalm 
was sung antiphonally with electrical effect. One, 
at least, of that choir is still singing the songs of Zion 
on earth, and some who were then present are still 
among us. The singing of From Greenland's Icy 
Mountains, for the first time in this church, is remem- 
bered as an inspiring event. 

What the fathers sought we still believe and rejoice 
in — good, churchly music. It is well, sometimes, to 
ask ourselves how much is our debt to sacred music ? 
It is well to remember that singers and preachers, in 
the service of the church, do all need the touch of 



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67 



heavenly fire, and to pray that it may descend upon 
and inflame them all with a holy ardor. 

4. We have stood for patriotism in the time 
of the country's peril. Eight days after the fall 
of Ft. Sumter, Dr. Goodrich preached upon '-The 
Christian Necessity of War." In this sermon he said : 
"We have believed that in civilized nations the law 
of progress would call for no conflict but that of 
free discussion ; but how it would be in a nation, 
where side by side with every liberty that is 
precious to man, has stood and grown mightier every 
day a system whose perpetuity requires that those 
liberties should be restricted and denied : this we have 
not taken into the account. And now the question 
has come squarely upon us whether we will relinquish 
these hard-earned liberties, or whether we will hold 
them in battle and cement them, if need be, with 
blood." * * And he goes on to say : "We cannot 
fight the battles of our country against treason 
without, at the same time, fighting a battle of freedom 
for mankind. * * We have a great work on hand. 
We are to prove in the face of all nations, that a pop- 
ular government is strong enough to punish treas- 
on." * * And thus he voices his faith : "God 
never will suffer, in this age, a government based on 
the doctrine of liberty to the strong and servitude to 
the weak." 

I am not aware that the record of this church in 
the civil war was ever compiled, but under such 
leadership it must have been noteworthy. Notable in 
official capacity were Dr. H. K. Gushing, responding 



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as Surgeon of the Ohio 7th, at the first call ; Colonel 
Chas. Whittlesey, 20th Infantry ; Lieut.-Col. George 
S. Mygatt, 41st Infantry ; Col. Oliver H. Payne, 124th 
Infantry ; Dr. Gustav C. E. Weber, Surgeon 125th 
Infantry. Col. Creighton and Lieut. Col Cram, killed 
at Mission Ridge, Nov. 27, 1863, were buried from 
this church, and services "In Memoriam" Abraham 
Lincoln, the martyr President, were here held, Hon. 
Sherlock J. Andrews presiding, Col. Richard C. 
Parsons making an address. The Soldiers' Aid Society 
of Northern Ohio was notably an organization for 
good. Foremost among the women of the war was 
Mary Clark Brayton, its Secretary. The receipts of a 
Sanitary Fair, in 1864, in which the women of this 
church toiled with conspicuous patriotism, netted 
nearly $70,000. Of these memorable years, and of 
those who here served their country, we cannot now 
speak at length. 

We have stood for education as the handmaid of 
religion. In all other particulars named we have stood 
on a plane with other churches of the city. In this 
it will be conceded that we have a certain preemi- 
nence, as the monuments of the generosity of our 
people are studied, and as the gifts of members and 
pewholders here testify, amounting to the munificent 
sum of two million, nine hundred and nine thousand 
dollars, during the last seventeen years. 

And with this goes the evidence of civic spirit that 
crops out in the labors of such men as Hon. George 
H. Ely and others, for the development of the com- 
merce of the lakes, and in institutions of beneficence, 



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69 



sheltering the invalid, the child and the aged — bearing 
on to remote times the names of Case, Stone and 
Woods; and of noble women Clark, Stone, Fitch, 
Mather, Harkness. To recall these, and many another 
charged with the same spirit, is to stir the shades of 
recollection and open the fount of tears. 

The aim of this discourse is not to glorify our- 
selves, but to emphasize the work in which we have 
found a place with others in these momentous years. 
Doubtless, that much of this may be said is due to the 
fact that this was the First Presbyterian Church. 
There must be a first if there is to be a second, and to 
be the first-born is, in itself matter, neither for praise 
nor blame; but to be first gives coign of vantage if 
men know how to use it rightly, imposes responsi- 
bility whether we will or no. If we have been able to 
meet and use this vantage ground, in any manner 
worthily, to God be all the glory. 

What I have to say along these lines is now said. 

IV. The call of the Past to the Present for the 
Future. That there is such a call, is not open to 
question. An inheritance such as this is both a fact 
and a prophecy, a gift with a summons. A church 
without a mission has no right to be. We have ours, 
not so much sought as brought to us. We have a 
commanding position of influence. No other invites 
us. What does this endowment, the expression of the 
love of the living and the dead, mean? What does 
the generous annual bestowment for the carrying 
forward of christian work here, mean? What does 
this latest munificent gift for the enrichment of our 



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public service and the joy of all worshipers, mean?* 
What does the goodly presence of the morning and 
evening audiences mean? Do not these things say — 
"Your work is not yet ended. Renew your youth and 
press on. Everything must be kept up to high water 
mark. Let down in nothing. Make the service of 
this church as strong, winsome, welcoming, inspiring, 
comforting, as may be. Come as close to the people 
as may be. Espouse the cause of the people. Be 
just to all, as God is just. Be kind to all, as God is 
kind. Remember that God is no respector of per- 
sons and break the bread of life to all. Let the weak 
here find a friend, and the strong a mission, and the 
waster of God's heritage of human souls, rebuke." 

Why not? Is anybody tired? Is anybody dis- 
couraged? Are we no longer needed? Is the mil- 
lenium here? Is the city saved? Is the country 
evangelized? Does the call from Macedonia pulsate 
on the air no more? The fathers have fallen on 
sleep, but they fell in their tracks, they fell face for- 
ward; some of them put into our hands treasure to be 
used for them, right here, and said, — "by this would I 
live on and work with you and them that come after 
you." These speaking windows, these tablets on the 
wall, these portraits in yonder, the pealing notes of 
the new organ — let us have more of such things, 
remembering how they who sow and they who reap 
are to rejoice together — builders all, the work of all 
gathered up and carried along in the unbroken life of 

* Allusion is here made to the gift of an organ by Mrs. S. V. Harkness, a mem- 
orial of her daughter Florence. 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



71 



this historic church. After all, as one has said, "it is 
better to live than to write about life." 

O dear church of God gird thyself afresh. Eenew 
your vows O ye who have grown weary, or lost heart, 
or been turned aside. Pray, pray, every one of you, 
that this day, this week, may not go by, without leav- 
ing with us the signal blessing of God Almighty — 
Father, Son and Holy Ghost. 



Then and now-A contrast. 

1820— 



PREACHED BY THE PASTOR SUNDAY EVENING, 
OCTOBER 20, 1895. 

Job 8. 7— JO. 

Though the beginning was small, yet thy latter end should 
greatly increase. 

For inquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself 
to the search of their fathers: 

(For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our 
days upon earth are a shadow : ) 

Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee, and utter words out 
of their heart ? 

In attempting to set in contrast periods so far 
apart as 1820-1895, with an interval so crowded with 
momentous progress in city, state and nation, in arts 
and industries, books and modes of living, we need to 
be guarded at two points. 1. We need to be careful 
to do ample justice to the men and women of 1820 — 



72 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



to put ourselves in their place — to speak reverently 
and tenderly of them who smoothed the way of our 
feet. Indeed, I can do no otherwise. 

And- 2 -we need to emphasize the providence of 
God as much in the building of Cleveland as in the 
building of Jerusalem. God is in the 19th century, 
A. D., just as truly as in the 19th century, B. C. 
Nay, his hand is more visibly laid bare today than in 
the time of Moses and David. There is a divine pur- 
pose unfolding in history that grows more evident as 
time moves on. 

I have come upon a description of Cleveland 
in 1816 — four years before this church was organ- 
ized — by one who was here then, and it ought 
therefore to be true. There were then three streets, 
Superior, Water and Bank. Bank street was opened 
only to where St. Clair street now is. Probably there 
were tracks through the woods here and there, but 
these were opened streets. Then they had a lake 
front, without contention or soot. There were then 
thirty-five dwellings in the hamlet. Then there were 
pools here and there, "covered with the green leaves, 
and white and golden petals of the water lily," and 
birch and other trees, vine laden, all of which were 
long since swept away. Then the wild grape filled the 
air with its fragrant breath, and there were grassy 
banks, dear me! And just think of it, "from the foot 
of Superior street to the lake the margin of the river 
gleamed in the sunlight with gay flowers and bright 
green mint, the aroma of which repaid a passing 
touch; sweet flag and water grass, waving tufts of 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



73 



flower-de-luce and spires of cat-tail opened to view a 
beautiful panorama, unbroken save by the old tannery, 
which added to, not marred, the beauty of the whole." 

I am much obliged to the, to me, unknown writer, 
for the description, and the assurance that once on a 
time the waters of the Cuyahoga "gleamed in the 
sunlight." I wish it would do that again before the 
eyes of this generation. Nothing is here said about 
the whisky mill under the hill, where the poor red 
men were befuddled by their white neighbors, but 
history says it was there. The continuity of whisky 
in this place is not a matter of dispute. 

There was "a ferry house," at the foot of Superior 
street, so there must have been a ferry and something 
to go for on the other side. Somebody seriously 
mutilated the copy from which I quote, which ends 
with hints of watermelons and raiders, and says "the 
inhabitants on that side the river were few and far 
between." They were so thick on this side they had 
not room to grow their watermelons! Huron and 
Erie streets on paper were the ambitious limit of the 
first Cleveland, and must have seemed as remote to 
Water street dwellers, as Glenville and East Cleveland 
to us. Those early timers laid out the Square which 
has been the joy of generations, on which the aristoc- 
racy of an early day built their homes, and planted 
churches, dispensed justice, and drew around them the 
comforts of life. This dear old Square the Philis- 
tines of our day want to destroy. They have takeo 
away the lake front, and the "gleam and sunlight" off 
the Cuyahoga, abolished the water lilies and the 



74 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



fragrance of grape vines, and given us instead the 
thousand smells of cologne, and now they want our 
precious Square also! 

There was once a log court house in the southwest 
corner of the Square, where the fountain plays — when 
water can be afforded — in front of this church, and in 
it the first Sunday School was organized in 1819; and 
there this church began its existence in a hamlet of 
150 souls, with fifteen members, in 1820. They had 
a lock-up there too, and, for once, church and jail 
were in close proximity, and the hymns of Zion 
reached the ears of the criminal and the unfortunate. 
But note that when they got ready to dedicate a 
park-like place for their delectation, they removed all 
these accessories of civilized life to outside of the side- 
walk, where they remain to this day. There is, as 
yet, but one serious innovation, of which I will not 
now speak particularly, lest I offend the ears of some 
for whom I entertain great respect. May it be the 
last. Let us keep, at least, one trace of the homes 
and haunts and sanctities of our fathers and be proud 
of it. 

About the date we have now reached, several gen- 
tlemen put their heads together and determined to buy 
the lot on which this church stands, which was then 
offered for sale. The price was $400. The names of 
these gentlemen were Messrs. Samuel Williamson, 
Samuel Cowles, John M. Sterling, Leonard Case, Her- 
man Kingsbury, Nathan Perry, P. M. Weddell, Samuel 
Starkweather, A. S. Walworth and Edmund Clark. 

They did well. They had done better had they 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



75 



bought as much more, but $400 was a large sum in 
those days. 

It is reported that $150,000 has lately been offered 
for it. 

The godly were in the minority then. Sunday 
was market day, and the crack of the rifle — shot-gun 
I guess it was — was heard in the woods hard by where 
the service of God was attempted. The tables are 
turned in a way. Men are not so openly blasphemous 
in their deviltry. They could not get up a procession 
in caricature of Christ today as then, but for this very 
day, a free excursion was advertised in big letters by 
some real estate operators, last Sunday much labor 
was expended to open a public boulevard for a few 
hours, Sunday before, a gang of men wrought openly 
all day and evening on Euclid avenue to refit a restau- 
rant. Almost any Sunday, at least often, a gang of 
street railroad employes may be seen at work; shops 
on almost every street open ; saloons running behind 
closed windows! The same sort of thing you can see 
in Paris any Lord's day, but here, a better thing is 
expected, most of all by representative citizens. 

The Cleveland of our day is big and growing, we 
are proud of our city, and for that very reason we 
need to get as far away as we can from the infidelity 
that in an early day was rampant here and in Fairport, 
and elsewhere along the lake and back on the Reserve. 

For a good while Old Trinity and this church 
alone undertook to stem the tide of primitive ungodli- 
ness and bring in a better day. One virtue of pioneer 
life was theirs — they were brought into close fellow- 



76 



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ship — they used to worship in the same school-room 
on St. Clair street. Trinity, I judge, did not get on so 
rapidly, though earlier on the ground; for at a Christ- 
mas time — the first churchly observance here, I believe 
it was — the Presbyterians seem to have had the use of 
the room morning and afternoon, Trinity in the 
evening. And there was some concern lest there 
might not be time to set the house in order and light 
the two big candles that "weighed a pound," made by 
some thrifty housewife. So, Uncle Abram, "head and 
front of Episcopacy then," whoever he may have been, 
good-naturedly begged Parson Bradstreet not to 
preach one of his "darned long-winded sermons" that 
afternoon. I am not informed, but I must believe 
that Mr. Bradstreet acquiesced. At any rate, Christ- 
mas was celebrated, and the room was packed. There 
have been statelier celebrations, but that was a good 
time and place to begin. 

Our fathers did as they could and made a virtue of 
necessity, and knew nothing of electric lights, and so 
were happy and content at first, to light the church 
with "tallow dips" hung on the wall with tin reflectors, 
and to keep them at their best by snuffing, as our 
mothers did at home, even at the risk of snuffing them 
out. The boys and girls of our day are far removed 
from all this, but the man of fifty, country -bred, knows 
all about it. And he also knows that people could be 
good and happy having little, and living, as would 
now be thought, in an awfully primitive way. It was, 
at least, a good thing to start from, and sturdy folk 
were reared in such surroundings. 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



77 



But the village grew to a city of 6000 in 1836, and 
now there is a Methodist, a Baptist, a Roman Catholic 
and a Bethel church — the beginning, all, of a long 
succession, reaching out with the city's growth from 
six to three hundred and thirty thousand. Then there 
were many isms afloat — Millerism for one. As a boy 
I remember to have been greatly scared by the talk 
current about the end of the world, as prophetic 
lecturers went around through country school-houses 
with charts of beasts and figures proving from Daniel 
the very day of the end. They had a church here, 
constructed, open in the roof, with special reference 
to going up. This frenzy wrought great mischief. The 
anti-slavery agitation then began to loom up and was 
at first coolly received. 

This church needed, and found, in Dr. Aiken, the 
man of level head to stand at the helm in those stormy 
times, from 1835 to 1860, the first and honored pastor 
of this church. 

In that day Christian sentiment was far more con- 
servative than now. There lies on my table a tremen- 
dous phillipic of Dr. Aiken's against the "unfruitful 
works of darkness." It was aimed at the theatre, the 
horse race and the circus. The spirit of the man is 
voiced in the paragraph: "God has made it the duty 
of the minister at the altar, who is set for the defence 
of the Gospel, to speak fully and openly against those 
established indulgences that are injurious to morals 
and religion." This is honest and manly, and the 
scorn with which he treats the two pleas for the horse 
race: 1. That it "improves the breed of horses," and, 



78 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



2. "Brings a flood of money into the place," is really 
fine. This flood of money suggests another flood that 
comes with it, which he likens to that which the great 
dragon in the Apocalypse poured out of his mouth. 
In 1839 it was resolved "that for a member of this 
church to attend theatres, balls or cotillion parties, 
whether public or private, is a breach of covenant, 
contrary to the spirit of the Gospel, and deserving the 
censure and discipline of the church." The church 
manual of that day contains twenty hints or rules for 
Christian living, each and all excellent. If every one 
who has confessed Christ would live by them, there 
would not be a back-slider on earth, nor a church 
quarrel. 

Such resolutions as this just quoted were on the 
books of the churches of that day generally. They 
are on many church records of a later date. And the 
testimony against these things — more guarded, 
softened, less sweeping than of old, finds utterance in 
religious convocations, year by year. 

But Dr. Aiken did not stop these unfruitful works 
of darkness, and the good people of this church, 
fathers and mothers and children were not to be 
"resolved" into ordering their lives thus and so, even on 
pain of discipline. Some were disciplined. Still, in 
the main, people went on doing as they pleased, and 
more and more so, and many very excellent people 
changed their minds about some of these things, till 
even Church Elders themselves and some of the par- 
sons, here and there, have ceased to order their lives 
upon the early pattern. 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



79 



What then ? Was it worth while ? Of course it 
was. It is always worth while to be true to one's con- 
victions. In this they are to be honored. They drew 
a line of distinction between the spirit of the kingdom 
of Christ, as represented by the Church, and the spirit 
of the world. They drew it where they thought it 
ought to be. The modern Church draws it differently. 
Some, then and since, have drawn it loosely, might 
almost as well not have drawn it at all. 

We may think they were narrow and bigoted, but 
they were not. They simply sought to be true to 
their light, and the spirit of their times. And it never 
has been proved that any of these things ever made 
Christ's people better, or saints more heavenly. And 
it is just as true today as ever it was, that Christ is 
more honored in the breach than in the observance of 
these social and worldly customs and indulgences. 

But people cannot be made pious by rules and 
resolutions and discipline. The era of the individual 
conscience is here. And men must be approached on 
the side of reason and conscience. The spiritual life 
must be deepened, the mind employed with better 
things, recreation furnished in more wholesome ways, 
and winsome persuasion must lead the way to better 
things. 

All in all, with any true definition of spirituality 
in sight, I do not believe the church of 1895 less 
spiritual than that of 1820; and its sympathies are far 
broader, religion is more a life, and having to do with 
all days, with business and pleasure and all things else. 
That was a day of creed-confession at the door of 



80 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



entrance to membership and communion. Now, con- 
fession of faith in Christ and purpose to live by and 
for Him, opens all doors to church privilege. And 
this is well. It is Apostolic. 

I honor the Church of 1820 and 1835 and 1850, 
for what it was and did, and for the witness it bore, 
and the many noble men and women in it, but it was 
not all wheat. There were tares then as now. The 
records make these things manifest. Say not that the 
former days were better than these. Honor all days 
for the good that is in them, but take care of thine 
own and the record thou thyself art making. 

I am one of those that do not believe that the 
Church is retrograding. The Church of this day is 
striving to adjust herself to times that move and shift 
like lightning, and to grapple with the problems that 
affect human life and character, and to do her duty. 
She must judge for herself when, how and what, as 
wisely as possible. She cannot follow all her advisors, 
and must be content to be maligned and misunder- 
stood. But the Church of this day is ready to face 
the right when she sees it, and the pulpits are as free 
as ever they were, and the men in them as courageous, 
all that is said to the contrary, notwithstanding. 

O, Church of God, be true to thine own day and 
mission. O, brother men, lend a hand; let's work 
together towards a better and a brighter day. I mean 
this for my Sunday evening friends who love to turn 
in here, and without openly avowing it, think of this 
as their church home. Many of you are new to the 
city. This work gives you an opportunity to get into 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



81 



the inside of our history and know us better. We 
want you to do it. We not only invite, we urge, you 
to look the matter over and see if there is not just 
here an opportunity for you to serve the Master and 
get good to yourselves. We would like to see you 
getting a grip upon this evening service, in the way of 
feeling a responsibility for it, raising a voice in how to 
make it serve you and your fellows better; and do 
more grandly the work that such a church ought to 
do, planted just here. Believe me, we mean just this. 
We are pulling ourselves together for the next stretch 
of twenty-five years, and we want your help. Now do 
not disappoint us. Give us your heart and your hand 
for the service we may together render to God's glory 
and for man's good. 



The Cleveland sisterhood of Presby- 
terian Churches. 

REV. S. P. SPRECHER, D. D. 

The Peruvians have a fable about a prince who 
brought to his father a nutshell, which, opening with 
a spring, revealed a little tent, possessed of a 
marvelous power of expansiveness; in the nursery the 
children played under its folds, in the royal council 
room the king and his court sat under its canopy, in 
the gardens the whole household gathered under its 
shade, on the plain the army was marshalled within its 
enclosure. This little tent is a good symbol of the 



6 



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STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



adaptability of our Presbyterian system to co-operate 
with Christians of every name in works of faith and 
labors of love, and of the expansiveness of our system 
in extending fellowship to every branch of the Chris- 
tian Church. No canons or exclusive ordinances 
separate us from our brethren in Christ of other folds, 
and we can lend a helping hand to anyone who is 
doing a good work. I believe it is conceded that most 
of the money spent in undenominational christian 
work comes from Presbyterians, at least, they give 
more outside than does any other one denomination. 

The only place where Presbyterians are apt to be 
divided is among themselves and on question of 
doctrine. This is because they are so tenacious of 
their opinions. Presbyterians generally know what 
they believe, and are ready with a reason for the faith 
that is in them, and I guess they are beside a little 
obstinate b}^ nature. It is what I have heard called 
the Scotch of it. When I was in Scotland some years 
ago a friend asked me if I knew why it was that so 
few mules were used in Scotland. "I did not know it 
was so," I replied, "but if so, why so ?" "Why," said 
he, "if a mule and a Scotchman should have a differ- 
ence of opinion, what would be the consequence ?" I 
am glad to be able to say that in Cleveland this Pres- 
byterian characteristic is held in check by an abound- 
ing sentiment of brotherliness. We are a real sister- 
hood of churches, assisting each other and bearing 
one another's burdens, like members of one family. 
The younger members are nurtured tenderly and led 
by the hand of the elder sisters until they can easily 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



83 



walk alone. There is no envy or jealousy, as far as I 
know, between any of the members of this sisterhood. 
For this state of things, I believe, we are mainly 
indebted to the Old Stone Church and her big-hearted 
pastor. We must needs be powerfully influenced by 
her since there is so much of her blood in the veins of 
all our churches. The spirit of this church and of Dr. 
Haydn has been that of abounding kindliness, gener- 
osity and helpfulness. No enterprise among us ever 
fails of their help and sympathy. Indeed, Dr. Haydn 
keeps us so busy in church work and moral reform 
that we have no time nor strength left to quarrel. He 
is always pointing us to the common enemy and lead- 
ing the way against them. Before the battle of 
Trafalgar, Lord Nelson called to him two of his officers 
who were at enmity, and, pointing to the opposing 
fleet, he said, "Yonder are your enemies; shake 
hands and be friends like good Englishmen." That is 
the kind of a leader Dr. Haydn is. 

Brethren, we are a strong denomination in Cleve- 
land, perhaps the strongest in numbers and in influ- 
ence. This brotherly love is one of the great elements 
of our strength. Let it continue and we will accom- 
plish wonders in Christian work and in advocating the 
Kingdom of the Master. Let us be distinguished in 
the army of the Lord in Cleveland for this character- 
istic. In ancient Thebes there was a band of 300 
cavalry who became a terror to the enemies of Egypt. 
They were companions who had bound themselves by 
a solemn vow to stand together in the service of their 
country. They were called "The Sacred Battalion or 



84 



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the Band of Lovers." The wonders they accomplished 
on every field of action were celebrated with pride in 
the annals of the nation. Let us be such a sacred 
battalion, and we will accomplish nobler feats and a 
better service in greater Cleveland. But if we bite 
and devour one another take heed that we be not con- 
sumed one of another. The wolves sent out a scout 
to learn of the approach of the dogs. The scout 
returned and reported that the dogs were coming on, 
but very slowly, as they were continually snapping 
and barking at each other. The wolves were com- 
forted. Let us not comfort wolves. It was by their 
brotherly love that the early Christians powerfully 
impressed their enemies. Lucian, the Roman satirist, 
exclaimed: "It is incredible to see the ardour with 
which the people of that religion help each other. 
They spare nothing. Their first legislator has put it 
into their heads that they are all brethren." 

The work of the Lord went on because the churches 
were so knit together in love. The strength of every 
individual was combined with that of all the rest in 
the blow they struck the heathen world and shattered 
it. Separate the atoms which make a hammer and 
each would fall on the stone as a snow flake; bat 
welded into one and wielded by the arm of the quar- 
ryman, it will break the massive rocks asunder. 
Divide the waters of Niagara into distinct and indi- 
vidual drops, and they would be no more than the 
falling rain, but in their united body they would 
quench the fires of all the volcanoes in the world. It 
is the union of Christian forces which is now, at last, 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



85 



tottering the strongholds of Satan in all our munici- 
palities. Christians are working together as they 
never have before, and they are learning the strength 
of union. It is the interest of each that we all stand 
together. The strength of each is the strength of all. 
As the word well says, "a three-fold cord is not 
quickly broken." St. John, when over 90 years old, 
after a long life of experience in building up the 
Kingdom of God, sent his last message to the churches, 
and it was simply this: "Love one another, Love one 
another, Love one another." 

Brethren, our Saviour tells us of a sign by which 
we are to prove our discipleship. "By this shall all 
men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love 
one to another." And the Apostle affirmed, "We 
know that we have passed from death unto life because 
we love the brethren." Certain it is that if we are all 
near to Christ we are near to each other, as lines 
drawn from the circumference approach each other as 
they near the center. Surely, brethren, we should be 
more concerned to find in each other Christliness of 
character than correctness of belief, or what we may 
consider correct belief. The strifes which have dis- 
graced the history of the church have almost always 
been over matters of trifling import, non-essentials of 
Christian doctrine. We keep the peace not by har- 
monizing opinions, for that is impossible, but by loving 
one another. Our sisterhood of churches rests upon 
the fact that true Christian love does exist among us 
here. And "behold how good and how pleasant it is 
for brethren to dwell together in unity." 



86 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



The Church and the community. 



REV. CHAS. D. WILLIAMS, DEAN OF TRINITY CATHEDRAL. 



There have been, I think, two stages in the history 
and development of the Christian Church, and we are 
now just entering upon a third. 

The first I may call the stage of institutionalism. 
The church was regarded as a divine institution 
whose principal, if not sole, business was to maintain 
her dignity, assert her authority, and make strong her 
dominion over the lives and consciences of men, as the 
representative of Christ upon earth. That idea of the 
church finds completed expression in Roman Cath- 
olicism, and that phase of her development reached 
its culmination in the middle ages. 

Then came the Reformation with its tremendous 
emphasis on the value of the individual soul and the 
necessity of its direct and immediate relation 
to God. Individualism has ever been the keynote of 
Protestantism. In its view the church has largely 
ceased to be a divine institution, even an organic 
society; it is simply a collection, an aggregate of indi- 
vidual souls. Its mission is simply to preach the 
gospel of salvation to individual sinners, to snatch 
some here and there like brands from the burning, 
and leave the great world to its doom. It is a kind of 
spiritual conveyance office, where title-deeds to salva- 
tion are made out for individual applicants. 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



87 



But a new era is dawning upon us in these closing 
days of the 19th century. It is characterized by a 
widespread awakening of the social conscience. Social 
questions are in the air everywhere. The pressure of 
social obligations, social duties, social responsibilities 
is being felt as never before. Humanity is beginning 
to realize that it is not simply a vast aggregate of 
individualism s — but an organic body in which we are 
all "members one of another," and sustain vital rela- 
tions to each other. 

Now this spirit of the age is affecting and inspiring 
the Christian Church; a new and wider vision of her 
God-appointed mission is dawning upon her. She is 
arousing to the fact that she is not sent just to save a 
few souls here and there out of the world — but, like 
her Divine Master, she is sent to save the world. She 
is to impregnate society with the leaven of the gospel. 
She is to pervade and possess it with the ethical doc- 
trine of Jesus. She is to inspire it with the spirit of 
Christ. In other words she has a mission to the common 
and social life of men as well as to their individual 
souls. 

That new conception of her mission lies at the 
bottom, and explains many, of the new forms of 
activity she is taking up in these latter days. She is 
not content simply to bring the gospel of salvation to 
bear on the individual sinners that happen to come 
under her influence, but she is applying it to the 
related life of men in society. She is striving to form 
public opinion on various subjects. She is taking the 
lead in municipal, temperance, and social reforms. 



88 



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She is planting her social and college settlements in 
the slums of our cities, and every parish and congre- 
gation is fast becoming a veritable net-work of organ- 
ization for social work of various kinds, a ganglion or 
nerve-center of social efforts. The church is setting 
earnestly to work to redeem society. 

Of course, because of the very novelty of this 
work the church sometimes makes mistakes; mistakes 
of hearty zeal and mistakes of inexperience. But 
nevertheless the instinct and impulse that inspire her 
in this work, are true. They spring out of the heart 
of that new and wider vision of her Divine mission 
that has come to her, namely that she is sent, not 
simply to save individual souls, here and there, but 
like her Master, to save the world. 

Now one very serious hindrance to the practical 
fulfillment of this social mission of the church is met 
with in the modern parochial system. It is what I 
may call the "ecclesiastical club" idea of the church. 
Whatever system of church support may be used in a 
parish, whether it be by pew rents or by the "free- 
church" method, the idea is very likely to become 
deeply imbedded in the minds of the contributing 
members that the church belongs specially, if not 
exclusively to them, just as the "Union Club House" 
on the Avenue, for instance, exists to furnish cer- 
tain material luxuries — good dinners, pleasant 
lounging places, and entertaining literature, amuse- 
ments, and society — exclusively to its contributing 
members, so the church is thought of very commonly 
as a kind of ecclesiastical club house. It is to furnish 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



89 



certain religious luxuries — eloquent, or at least, 
interesting preaching, fine music, an aesthetic 
worship for the spiritual delectation, and perhaps 
edification of those who pay for it. And the result is 
frequently a one-sided conflict between the church's 
duty to the community which surrounds her and the 
claims which her supporters make upon her. That is 
the explanation of the up-town fever which so per- 
sistently and virulently attacks our city churches. 
The contributing members have moved up on the ave- 
nues and they demand that the ecclesiastical club 
house shall follow to a convenient proximity, and so 
the church is continually on the move away from 
those who most need her, to those who best sup- 
port her. 

Ah, my friends, if those who support our churches 
were possessed wholly of the true christian spirit they 
would feel that they had no more exclusive or even 
especial claim upon the ministrations of the churches 
to which they contribute than they have to the bene- 
fits of the missions which their gifts send among the 
heathen, or the benefactions of the hospitals and char- 
ities which they help to found. They would give the 
means and say, "Let the ministrations be given 
wherever they are most needed." And then we 
should see — not the anomalous and unchristian ar- 
rangement we have now — the great churches, with 
their beautiful architecture and inspiring services, 
crowding the avenues, which are already replete with 
social and religious advantages and luxuries, while the 
deserted slums and centers of population are dotted 



90 



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here and there with a puny mission chapel, with dis- 
mal appointments and unattractive services; as one 
has aptly put it, "all the dough in one pan and all the 
yeast in another and the hopeful people waiting for 
the bread to rise," but we should see our stringent 
efforts f ocussed where the greatest need lies, our great 
forces with the most inspiring worship of praise and 
prayer and their most effective presentation of the 
gospel message at the great centres of our population — 
the centres likewise of our sin and vice. 

It is only as the church does that, that she can 
solve the vexed problem, how to reach the masses; it is 
only so that she can possess and inspire the civic and 
social life — in a word it is only thus that she can fulfill 
her duty to the community. 

1 am sure I am speaking for my fellow-workers in 
Christ, the pastors of the neighboring congregations, 
and for all who feel the pressure of the church's social 
responsibility, when I say that we are proud of the 
Old Stone Church because she is inspired by just that 
true christian spirit which I have been discussing; 
because she is striving faithfully to fulfill her God- 
given duty to the community that surrounds her. 
She feels that she has been put here by God to do a 
work and by God's grace she means to stay put. Her 
towers are to stand in the midst of all this rush and 
din of absorbing and sometimes sordid business activ- 
ity, as silent but effectual witnesses to higher things. 
Her services, with all the effectiveness that the best 
preaching and the most inspiring worship can give 
them, are to abide right here in this centre of teeming 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



91 



life to exert their uplifting influences upon the masses 
of humanity that daily surge about her doors. Her 
ministrations, missionary, educational and social, are 
to radiate from this strategic point and penetrate the 
surrounding portion of our city, where ignorance and 
sin do so abound. So is she striving to realize the 
ideal relation of the church to the community, and 
therefore do we thank God and pray His richest 
blessing upon her noble efforts. "We wish you good 
luck in the name of the Lord." 



The Church and Religious Progress. 



REV. L. L. TAYLOR. 



It seems almost a pity that Dr. Haydn, by assign- 
ing us topics, should have made it impossible for us 
who are here to-night with the greetings of the sister- 
hood of Cleveland's older churches, to speak all the 
time allotted to us in the expression of those senti- 
ments of fellowship and congratulation which find 
their way so readily from heart to lip on such an 
occasion as this. 

Denominationally, I stand related to this occasion 
in a somewhat peculiar way. I am here as a Congre- 
gational minister and as the pastor of a Congregational 



92 



STONE CHUKCH ANNALS. 



church. But both my church and I were once Pres- 
byterian, and we were Presbyterians — my church and 
I — for just about the same length of time ; she, in the 
early fifties ; I, in the early nineties. And though 
something less than three years sufficed us, our greet- 
ings are brought to you with a sense of kinship which 
strikes some of its roots, I am sure, into those days 
when we shared your honored name. 

But I have been asked to say a few words on "The 
Church and Religious Progress." I presume we are 
pretty well agreed that there has been religious 
progress during the past seventy-five years. Whether 
it has kept pace with our national progress, may be 
questioned. But a most interesting parallel might be 
established between the progress we have made in the 
control and useful application of the forces and sub- 
stances of the material world, and the progress which 
is way -marked by the broader application of the truths 
and powers of the spiritual world to the whole of the 
complex life which it is given us to live in these days. 
Some how or other the steam got out of James Watts' 
tea-kettle and went to work in the world. Some how 
or other the lightning was induced to stop playing 
with Franklin's kite and went to work in the world. 
Some how or other the Gospel has broken loose from 
our sermons and hymn books and gone to work in 
the world, with an energy and manifoldness of impact 
never known before. Some how or other men are 
coming to realize that religion is coterminous with 
life. In this last fact, if we had no other, we shall 
have a proof of religious progress. If territorial 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



93 



extension represents religious progress, how much 
more truly does the social intension of Christianity ! 

But while we rejoice and ought to rejoice in the 
present-day achievements of the Gospel as a sound 
and intellectual influence, we must guard against the 
tendency to disembody the Gospel. There is a tend- 
ency on the part of many to do just this thing — to 
disembody the Gospel, to separate it from the ordi- 
nances and institutions with which Christ saw fit to 
identify it. I, for one, do not believe that the Gospel 
has outgrown the Gospels. I do not believe that 
Christianity has outgrown Christ, the Christ who said, 
"Preach and Baptize ;" the Christ who not only loved 
me and gave himself for me, but loved the church, 
and gave himself for it, that there might be a church; 
that there might be everywhere churches, glorious, 
holy, without spot or wrinkle or blemish. Many 
things are done and have been done in the name of 
the Lord Jesus. In His name men have cast out 
devils, have prophesied, have done many wonderful 
works. In His name vast sacrifices have been made, 
vast enterprises undertaken, heavy burdens borne. 
But I question whether any one thing, done in His 
name, has ministered so directly to the advancement 
of His cause and to the glory of the Father, as the 
gathering together, of men and women and children, 
to live the Christ life of His church. 

God bless this gathering together in His name 
which our great city delights to honor as the Old 
Stone Church, and whose faith and labors of love are 
known through the length and breadth of the land ! 



94 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



The Church as a Witness to 
the Truth* 

REV. LEVI GILBERT, D. D. 



Dr. Gilbert brought the greetings and congratula- 
tions of the Methodist churches, and spoke of the 
similarity of the problems and duties facing the Old 
Stone Church and the First Methodist, growing out of 
their down-town location, and pledged his church to 
remain with the Presbyterians, on ground so needing 
churchly ministrations. The theologies, once antagon- 
istic, have now come together. Those were great 
men — great Johns — John Calvin, John Robinson, John 
Knox and John Wesley, and all our churches can 
speak from the one text : "There was a man sent 
from God, whose name was John." 

"The Truth" is a large subject, but none too large 
for the capacity of the gospel. The church should 
witness to the unity of the truth, to the "one God, 
one law, one element," to the one testimony given by 
nature, history and redemptive processes. Preaching, 
therefore, has a large field, all truth at last leading up 
to God, who is Truth. All creation has emanated from 
Him, and therefore returns to Him, linking itself into 
the divine on the side of its higher moral and spiritual 
significance. But it is particularly Christian truth — 
the truth "as it is in Christ Jesus," to which the 
Church witnesses. 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



95 



It is therefore to the great historical facts of 
Christianity that it bears its testimony — a rock-bed of 
historical verities unmovable. Christianity is not a 
product of speculation and cannot be overthrown by 
speculation. It has not been elaborated from the 
ratiocinations of any philosopher — spun from an argu- 
mentive brain. It is not a plant grown in the studio 
in-doors, but based on proved and proveable facts 
that have withstood the destructive attacks of ^hostile 
criticism of nineteen centuries, and can assuredly 
challenge the future. 

The Church is the witness to the Person of Christ, 
and preaches a personal salvation by the personal 
trust of a person in a Person ; by the Christ himself, 
and not by believing some statements about him, are 
men saved. The movement of oar times is a "return 
to Christ" — to Him who was "the Way, the Truth and 
the Life." He was the way, not simply showing it ; 
the way to God because the Truth and the Life, and 
these two are one because He is one. The truth is a 
vital and vitalizing truth, and the life is a truthful life. 
We find truth by living, we get to God through life 
and not by abstractions. We arrive at truth by being 
"willing to do His will." The best witness to Christ 
is the witness of a life. The best translation of the 
Bible is to translate it into men and women. The best 
creed is the incarnation of truth — the reproduction of 
Jesus. The distinction between dogma and life is 
somewhat artificial and arbitrary. It is said that life 
is always more than dogma, and said truly, for there 
is a natural climax in "the Way, the Truth and the 



96 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



Life." But truth is not truth unless it is alive, and 
can be built up into a life, contributing to a higher 
existence. And, of necessity, life must always feed 
itself on dogma, doctrine, truth. 

The pulpit is not, therefore, to spend its time in 
over-refined, subtle, metaphysical discussions, but 
should be eminently practical, showing men the truth 
by which they can live. It is to take the great facts 
and truths of Christianity and apply them to the needs 
of men and communities to-day. It is to ask earnestly, 
"What is the truth?" with reference to labor, capital, 
wealth, justice, and every burning question uppermost 
at the time. A Christianity which is not applied, is a 
Christianity denied. 

The Church is to witness to a growing truth, grow- 
ing and expanding into greater grandeur constantly, 
because it is living. "Time makes ancient good 
uncouth." We are to put the "old truths in a new 
light." Theology is a progressive science, like astron- 
omy, geology, botany, biology, though its fundamental 
facts, like the stars, the rocks, the flowers and life, 
remain from age to age the same, only the intepreta- 
tion and expression varies with increasing discovery 
and revelation. 

The Church is to witness to the truth, rather than 
to commit itself for the sake of "authority" or 
"safety," or "fixity," to systems of "orthodoxy," or 
"heterodoxy." Its preachers should refuse any brand 
or technical tag, should be larger than any school, and 
be free to seek and welcome truth from whatever 
quarter. 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



97 



The Church is to have a divine passion for the 
truth, blinking nothing, being utterly unafraid. It 
should lead in scientific research, and not come 
ingloriously lagging in at last, reluctantly accepting 
what has been long obvious to the world. It should 
claim all truth as its own and as God's truth, accept- 
ing the oneness of the kingdoms of nature and of 
grace, and, with every new discovery, crying, with 
Milton, "Hail, holy light !" Infinitely better this than 
the scant courtesy, suspicions and antagonisms of the 
past. It is to have the glorious enthusiasm for the 
truth of Him who proclaimed it the end of his birth 
and of his coming into the world to bear witness to 
the truth. 

Finally, the Church is to be a witness to the truth, 
not a pettifogger for God, chopping logic for Him, 
defending with miserable argumentations what needs 
no defense. It is to proclaim out of its own expe- 
rience and self-consciousness the divine truths of God, 
Christ, the Spirit, the soul, salvation. It is to witness 
to the eternal validity of the Scriptures with a wise 
dogmatism, strong with reason and true faith. It is 
to witness to Him who is the Light that lighteth every 
man coming into the world, who said that whoso- 
ever followed Him should not walk in darkness, but 
have an inner illumination — the "light of life." It is 
not called on to refute every vagrant objection which 
might appropriately have originated in a lunatic 
asylum, but should preach a positive and constructive 
gospel — the everlasting yea being sufficient answer to 
the everlasting nay. It is to preach not diffidently nor 



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apologetically, but with absolute confidence that, in its 
message, there is a solution for every perplexity and 
problem of this and all times, and believe that truth is 
mighty and will prevail. It is to preach a gospel not 
simply individualistic, but a corporate salvation — a 
Christ who saves communities, society, humanity, the 
world. 

May this Old Stone Church and all our churches 
preach such a gospel, and in the midst of all doubt, 
uncertainty and denial, in the babel of mammonism 
and mercantilism, amid the clamorous and discordant 
noises of this old, weary world, lift up its testimony, 
calm and strong, to the immortal truths, the everlasting, 
living verities by virtue of which we are men — by 
which individuals and nations enter now and evermore 
into eternal salvation and life ! 



The Church in Her Fellowships. 



REV. A. G. UPHAM, D. D. 

The church universal is the body of Jesus Christ. 
The fellowships of the church grow out of the believ- 
er's union with his living Lord. Are we members of 
Christ ? Then are we members one of another. We 
have fellowships of faith, and hope, and love. We are 
one body in Christ. We have unity of life. We may 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



99 



differ in points of organization and of doctrine, but 
in all that is vital and permanent, we are one. Our 
differences are earthly and temporal, our unities are 
divine and eternal. Great denominations have grown 
up in Christendom, each having its own history and 
traditions, its own convictions and vested interests. I 
do not know what the future of them will be, but in 
our desires for the organic union of Christendom we 
must not forget the essential unity which we already 
enjoy. Our Lord's high priestly prayer for the unity 
of His disciples may not be fully answered, but it is 
receiving what the older theologians used to call a 
"springing and germinating fulfilment." There is 
such a thing as a Christian character, a Christian life, a 
Christian service. May "Christ dwell in all our hearts 
by faith "that we, being rooted and grounded in 
love, may be able to comprehend with all saints, what 
is the length, and breadth, and depth and height ; and 
may know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, 
that we may be filled with all the fulness of God.'' 
Why should not Presbyterians and Baptists have 
fellowship with one another? We worship the same 
God, and the same Saviour, and preach the same way 
of salvation through faith in Him who was crucified 
and is risen. We may differ in some of our interpre- 
tations of the Scriptures, but our rule of faith is the 
same. Interpretations are human and liable to imper- 
fection, and therefore there is, and always will be, 
room and call for progress in Christian doctrine, as 
Ave come to see better what the Bible is, and what it 
says. No one church has a monopoly of the truth. 



100 



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Every denomination owes something to every other in 
helping the church universal to the knowledge and 
doing of Christ's will. 

We owe much to the Presbyterians, and we gladly 
confess our indebtedness. Your great theologians are 
ours, your missionary heroes and martyrs, your edu- 
cated ministry, your consecrated men and women. As 
a humble member of the Body of Christians who are 
called Baptists, I greet you in the name of the Lord. 

It is fitting that these greetings should be borne 
on this occasion by the pastor of the First Baptist 
Church, for in the beginnings of their history the First 
Baptist Church and the First Presbyterian Church 
had much in common. Some of the Baptist pioneers 
in this city worshipped and worked with you until the 
First Baptist Church was organized in 1833. Our two 
Churches have grown up side by side, their roots being 
closely intertwined in the same soil of divine grace. 
May we not say that both are "trees of righteousness, 
the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified?" 
Seventy-five years does not mean old age to a body 
that is full of the love of Christ. It only means char- 
acter, life, power for enlarged service. May the goodly 
heritage of the past be an inspiration to a still better 
future. 



4 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



101 



The Founders of the First Church. 



BY TRUMAN P. HANDY. 



I am requested to speak of the "Founders of the 
old First Church," and in doing so I shall be pardoned 
if I refer briefly to that part of its history embraced 
in the first twenty-four years of its existence, during 
twelve of which, from 1832, I was a member. 

This Church was the outgrowth of a Mission Sun- 
day School organized in 1819, with Mr. Elisha Taylor 
Superintendent, and Moses White, a leading Baptist, 
the Secretary. 

It was organized by Revs. Wm. Hanford and Ran- 
dolph Stone, with fifteen members, six of them on 
confession of their faith. At its formation it was voted 
to be under the watch and care of Portage Presbytery; 
the mode of its government was left to future con- 
sideration. Rev. Randolph Stone was its first minis- 
ter. He preached one-third of the time for the year 
ending April, 1821. On the first Sabbath in January, 
1822, Rev. Wm. McLean commenced his labors and 
was employed for three-fourths of his time for one 
year. In September following Rev. Stephen I. Brad- 
street was engaged for one-half of the time, and con- 
tinued his services till January 20th, 1830. Rev. John 
Sessions was then employed in June following. His 
labors were brief, and the Church was without a stated 
minister until June 10th, 1831. 



102 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



This was then a missionary field, explored and 
aided by the Connecticut Missionary Society. In a 
copy of the Evangelical Magazine, published at Hart- 
ford in June, 1801, Rev. Joseph Badger writes: "I 
expect to be in Hudson next Sabbath and spend the 
rest of my time on the western and northern part of 
the Reserve unless I return to New England or go in 
September to the Shawnee tribe of Indians; George 
Blue Jacket, son of the great chief, wants some one to 
go with him and help him tell his people about religion 
and see if they will not be willing to have some Mis- 
sionaries come among them and teach them how to 
live. The prospects of the country are very flattering, 
respectable people are flowing in from every quarter. 
The friendly disposition of the Indians banishes all 
fear of danger from them. If the Lord should make 
this wilderness as a watered garden by planting and 
nourishing his church in it, there will be no place more 
desirable to live in." 

This same Missionary again visited Cleveland in 
1820 and with others organized this first church. Its 
officers were Elisha Taylor and S. I. Hamlen. In 
April, 1832 its Elders and Deacons were Stephen 
Whitaker, John Gabadan, S. I. Hamlen, Alanson Pen- 
field and Harmon Kingsbury. 

The Elders were elected for life and usually led all 
the religious services when no minister was present. 
This order was afterward changed by vote of the 
church and they were elected for only three years, 
though eligible if desired, to a re-election. 

This gave the growing Church an opportunity of 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



103 



selecting such new members as might seem best. This 
feature of a rotary eldership has been since adopted 
and approved by all the Presbyterian churches in this 
city. In 1831 Kev. Samuel Hutchings began his labors 
and closed them in the autumn of 1832, having been 
called as a Missionary to Ceylon, where he and his 
wife spent several years in the service of the American 
Board, ten of which were given to the revision of the 
Tamil Bible and the compilation of the Tamil English 
Dictionary. His health failing, he returned and died 
at Orange, N. J., on the first of September, 1895, at 
the age of 89 years. He was an earnest and devoted 
minister. The Church at the close of that year num- 
bered about 70 persons. 

For the twelve years prior to his coming, services 
were held in the old Court-house and in the school- 
house on St. Clair street, and were often omitted 
altogether. The Sabbath was disregarded. Many of 
the first settlers, it was said, either embraced infidelity 
or inclined towards it and were indifferent to Chris- 
tianity. During the ministry of Mr. Hutchings the 
American Home Mission Society in New York aided 
in his support. 

It had no house of worship at this time, nor was 
there one in the village except Trinity Church, then a 
small frame building standing on the corner of St. 
Clair and Seneca streets. Its services were held in 
the third loft of a building where the American House 
now stands. The erection of the first stone church 
was commenced in 1832. It was completed and dedi- 
cated February 26th, 1834. The erection of a house 



104 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



of worship in those days was attended with difficulties. 
It had been under discussion for two years previous, 
but owing to the great scarcity of money and the 
inability of the people, it was deferred, and progressed 
very slowly till the latter part of 1832. Donations 
were made in stone, lumber and other building mater- 
ials, some in store pay, and not until a loan of $10,000 
was secured did the work go on to completion. 

It was plain in its exterior, built of gray sand 
stone, rough hammered. Its size was 55 by 80 feet 
with a commodious basement where its services were 
held for a year prior to its completion. The loan was 
made by the Commercial Bank of Lake Erie and paid 
during the ten years following. I believe I was the 
treasurer of the society in that year. 

It had 84 pews and a gallery suspended from the 
ceiling by iron rods. In 1833, Rev. John Keep of 
Homer, N. Y., was invited to supply the pulpit, and 
commenced his services in December of that year. Mr. 
Keep closed his labors in April, 1835, a number of the 
members having, at their own request, been dismissed 
to form a Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn, then Ohio 
City, to which Mr. Keep was called as Pastor. A few 
years later he removed to Oberlin, where he died. 

A unanimous call was then extended to Rev. 
Samuel C. Aiken, of the First Presbyterian Church, 
Utica, N. Y., to become Pastor of the church. It was 
accepted and he removed here with his family, com- 
mencing his labors on the 7th of June, 1835, and Nov. 
24, was installed Pastor. He was a native of Vermont, 
a graduate of Middlebury College, and had been a 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



105 



successful Pastor in Utica seventeen years, succeeding 
Rev. Henry Dwight of Geneva. He had a long and 
useful ministry in this church as many living can bear 
witness. 

His character both as Pastor and preacher was 
fully established, and his influence in laying founda- 
tions for Christian work was felt not only here, but 
throughout the churches in Northern Ohio. During 
the earlier period of his Pastorate the churches in this 
portion of the State were agitated with the slavery 
question and many extreme views were held in regard 
to many subjects. 

Dr. Aiken's excellent judgment and good sense had 
much to do in preserving the peace and unity of this 
church. No dissensions or disturbances have ever 
existed to mar its prosperity, while the frequent 
revivals of religious interest during his ministry added 
greatly to its spiritual growth and power. He ended 
his long and useful life of 88 years, January 1st, 1879, 
but his work abides among us, and his memory as a 
faithful pastor will long be held in grateful remem- 
brance. I should add that the church was blessed 
with several revivals of religion under his ministry, 
especially in the winter of 1840, when he was aided by 
Rev. John T. Avery, and large additions were made to 
its membership. 

The seating capacity of the Church had gradually 
been found insufficient to accommodate its members 
and more room was needed. This with the increase 
of population demanded another church and resulted 
in the formation of the Second Presbyterian Church. 



106 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



The retiring members were all deeply attached to 
Dr. Aiken and felt it a sacrifice to leave the old church. 
Volunteers were called for and in June, 1844, at a 
meeting held, at which Dr. Aiken presided, forty-eight 
members signified their willingness to constitute such 
an organization. It was then made with his approval. 
In September of that year, after extending a call to 
Eev. S. B. Canfield of Ohio City to become their 
pastor, the church commenced its services in a build- 
ing purchased from the Second Advent Congregation, 
then standing on the ground now occupied by the 
Court-house, on the north-east corner of the Public 
Square. This building now stands on Erie street and 
is occupied by the "Whosoever Will" Mission. 

Of the little band of original members, Mr. 
Elisha Taylor and S. I. Hamlen were perhaps the most 
influential in giving it the form of a Presbyterian 
organization. Mr. Taylor was a man of decided con- 
victions and generous impulses. Later he bore an 
active part in the organization of the Third Presby- 
terian Church as well as in all benevolent work, and 
died deeply lamented after a long life of Christian 
service. 

Deacon S. I. Hamlen was an early settler, a car- 
penter and builder, a very conscientious man and a 
devoted Christian, strict in his religious duties and 
exemplary in his daily life. 

P. B. Andrews, another of the first members, was 
an industrious citizen, a worker in the construction of 
machinery and steam engines, taking much interest in 
the growth of the church. 

Henry Baird had a small hotel under the hill. 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



107 



Among the first members, were Mrs. Sophia L. Perry, 
the mother of the late Nathan Perry; Sophia Wal- 
worth, wife of A. W. Walworth, who though not at 
that time a member of the church aided in its support; 
Juliana Long, wife of Dr. David Long and mother of 
Mrs. Solomon L. Severance, one of the most active 
and devoted of the Christian wives and mothers of 
that day; Isabella Williamson, wife of Judge Samuel 
Williamson and grandmother of our present Samuel 
E. Williamson, one of the leading families of that time; 
Samuel Cowles, often called Squire Cowles, was one of 
the early settlers of Cleveland. He was a bachelor 
and a lawyer until late in life. He took a lively 
interest in the moral and religious condition of Cleve- 
land and though not a member of the church was ever 
ready to contribute to its support. He was very 
methodical in his habits and enjoyed a good reputa- 
tion in his profession. He built the house on Euclid 
Avenue, lately known as the Convent, and there lived. 

The following persons were members of the con- 
gregation, several of whom united with the church in 
later years: Peter M. Weddell, a prosperous merchant, 
who came here in 1820 and became a member of the 
church January, 1834. Dr. David Long, a leading 
physician, both in his profession and as a citizen. He 
also joined by profession October, 1835. Mrs. Long 
and Mrs. Weddell were active Christian women, ready 
always to aid in every good cause. The daughter of 
the former (now Mrs. Mary H. Severance) is still 
among us after a long life of great usefulness and 
christian service. We trust she may be spared for 
years to come. Thos. Davis, a warm hearted christian 



108 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



man, though with limited education, was full of Bible 
knowledge, as will be remembered through his simple 
but earnest prayers. Himself and family bore an 
active part in the Mayflower Mission School, which 
resulted in the formation of the Woodland Ave. Pres- 
byterian Church, in which all were active members. 
Mr. John Blair was an early settler, and a commission 
merchant on the river, who, with his family were 
members of the congregation. Mr. Blair united with 
the church in 1835. His daughters are still among 
its useful and active members. Mrs. Blair was also a 
member and died in 1860. Hon. S. J. Andrews came 
in 1825, a learned and distinguished jurist, of brilliant 
talents and a christian gentleman though not a mem- 
ber of the church. His wife was an active member, 
and a devoted christian and mother. Judge Samuel 
Starkweather, a man of finely cultivated intellect, 
though not a member of the church, was interested in 
its prosperity. His wife was among our most charm- 
ing and devoted members, both in church and society. 
Her two sisters, Mrs. T. P. May and Mrs. Richard 
Dockstader were also members. 

The following were some of the early members of 
the church, prior to 1840: Peter M. Weddell, Samuel 
Cowles, Samuel Williamson, John M. Sterling, Stephen 
Whitaker, Alanson Penfield, S. J. Andrews, Samuel 
Starkweather, John Gabandan, Orlando Cutter, Dudley 
Baldwin, John A. Foot, Chas. M. Giddings, James F. 
Clark, F. W. Bingham, J. W. Gallup, Alexander Sey- 
mour, N. R. Haskell, Samuel Raymond, Henry Sexton, 
Elijah Bingham, E. P. Morgan, Samuel H. Mather, 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



109 



Dr. David Long, John Blair, Thos. Davis, John S. 
Hudson, Harman Kingsbury, C. L. Lathrop, John M. 
Woolsey, Thos. P. May, A. W. Walworth, A. D. 
Cutter, Edmund Clark, Dr. Erastus Cushing, Solomon 
L. Severance, M. B. Scott, Erastus F. Gaylord, S. W. 
Crittenden, Dr. W. A. Clark, Wm. Bingham, John 
Day, Wm. Day, Geo. Mygatt, Wm. A. Otis, Jarvis 
Leonard. Of these only Dudley Baldwin, Jarvis 
Leonard and Wm. Bingham remain. 

Among the more distinguished and useful members 
to be mentioned is John A. Foot, ever to be held in 
loving remembrance by all of us who knew of his 
christian activities and exemplary life. It was full of 
faith and good deeds. He came here in 1833, and 
was an active member of the church and an elder for 
46 years. A man of blessed memory, my warm asso- 
ciate and friend of 60 years, an illustration of the text, 
that so well described his character, and quoted by Dr. 
Haydn at his funeral, July 16th, 1891 : "The righteous 
shall be in everlasting remembrance." His sainted 
wife, formerly Mrs. A. D. Cutter, followed him only 
one year later to their home above. Long will they 
be remembered with affection, for their devoted chris- 
tian lives among us. 

Among the younger members of the church who 
shared in its activities and in its Sunday school, was 
Mr. S. L. Severance, a merchant. He married Miss 
Mary Long. Himself and three brothers, T. C. Sever- 
ance, Darwin and John L. were distinguished for their 
musical talents and aided greatly in its public and 
social service both in vocal and instrumental music. 



110 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



Norman R. Haskell and S. W. Crittenden came here 
with me in 1832. They bore an active part in the 
church and Sunday school for many years. Both have 
passed away. 

The old church has from the beginning of its his- 
tory been highly favored with a goodly company of 
christian women, among whom were; Mrs. Juliana 
Long, Mrs. Isabella Williamson, Mrs. Edmund Clark, 
Mrs. E. F. Gaylord, Mrs. C. L. Lathrop, Mrs. Samuel 
Starkweather, Mrs. S. J. Andrews, Mrs. P. M. Weddell, 
Mrs. Dudley Baldwin, Mrs. Geo. Hoadley, Mrs. John 
M. Sterling, Mrs. H. V. Willson, Mrs. Samuel Ray- 
mond, Mrs. James F. Clark, Mrs. Samuel Williamson, 
Mrs. Wm. Bingham, Mrs. John A. Foot, Mrs. J. M. 
Woolsey, Mrs. John Blair, Mrs. C. M. Giddings, Mrs. 
Mary H. Severance, Mrs. Henry W. Clark, Mrs. M. 
B. Scott (Mary Williamson), Miss Sarah E. Fitch. Of 
these only three remain, Mrs. Baldwin, Mrs. Bingham 
and Mrs. Severaace. 

The name of Miss Sarah E. Fitch should not be 
passed without recognition of her long and faithful 
service both in the church and in every good work in 
the city. I saw her as a member of the Sunday school 
in 1832. Her christian activities found no abatement 
to the day of her death. Her memory will long be 
held in grateful remembrance. 

Mrs. James F. Clark has by her generous gift left 
to it a monument of her deep interest in its prosperity. 
She with her husband united with the church in 1835. 

Of these seventy names, including my own, only 
seven are now living. What a comment on life ! I 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



Ill 



cannot forbear to recognize the goodness of God in 
sparing me to join with this old church of my love on 
this its 75th Anniversary, and permitting me to share 
both in its joys and its labors during the years that 
have gone by. 

Much more might be said of the history and work 
of this mother of the Presbyterian Churches in this 
city and of its founders. The loved and honored 
Pastors and their associates who have carried it for- 
ward can better tell of its success in the wide field it 
has occupied during these 75 years of its history. 

The more it has given, the greater has been its 
enlargement. Long may it continue to send forth its 
streams of religious influence that shall "make glad 
the city of our God." 

I only add in closing, the words so well spoken by 
Dr. Haydn in his historical sermon preached February, 
1893, as follows: "They who organized Trinity Church 
and those that followed in the next ten years did well 
for themselves and better for posterity. These saintly 
and sainted men and women, their christian house- 
holds, their devoted pastorates, their Sabbath services, 
their christian training and nurture of the young, 
their sermons, prayers, impulses to every good cause 
— to reform, education, patriotism in the country's 
defense, in the country's desperate need, speak for 
themselves. We profoundly honor the memory of the 
founders of these churches and we do well." 



112 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



Work for the Young. 



MR. C. L. KIMBALL. 

In this paper we will first speak of the Sabbath 
School, as that was probably the first work started for 
the young; out of which has grown the many other 
phases of work in their behalf, undertaken in these 
later years. 

In a memorandum kept by Mr. T. P. Handy, we 
find the First Presbyterian Sabbath School was started 
in 1819, by Rev. Mr. Osgood, who at that early day 
frequently visited the feeble churches on the Western 
Reserve, and through whose efficiency and zeal much 
good seems to have been accomplished. 

For several years this school was held only a part 
of the year, and maintained during the winter. , There 
were from twenty to forty scholars and seven or eight 
teachers. 

The first superintendent was Elisha Taylor, and 
then followed one and possibly two others whose 
names we do not know. The next was Alanson Pen- 
field. We have no records of their terms of service. 
Mr. T. P. Handy came to the school in 1832 as a 
teacher, and in 1833 became superintendent, serving 
until 1844, when he left with others, to start the 
Second Presbyterian church. The school had in- 
creased, now, to about eighty scholars and twenty 
teachers. From a personal record kept by Mr. Handy 
we glean some interesting facts. In looking over his 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



113 



list of scholars we find the names of Lucius Fairchild, 
who joined the church at ten years of age. He is 
now, or was, the Governor of Wisconsin. George 
Hoadly joined at fifteen. A few years ago he was 
Governor of Ohio and is now one of the leading lawyers 
of the country. Charles A. Otis entered when ten 
years old — became Mayor of this city, as did also Wil- 
liam Castle. Mr. Otis is still among us. Edwin 
Cowles became editor of the Cleveland Leader and 
wielded vast influence, and Alfred Cowles, his brother, 
became editor of the Chicago Tribune, one of the 
best papers in the west. Douglass Cleveland, who be- 
came a judge, is now living here. We are told he was a 
very fine speaker when a little boy and that Mr. 
Handy used to stand him on a table to speak his 
pieces. They evidently had Sunday School entertain- 
ments in those early days. We have no knowledge of 
anyone from the school filling the presidential chair. 
Possibly that will come later. Dr. H. K. Cushing is 
still living and one of our leading physicians. 
Reuben Smith joined when eleven years old, became a 
teacher and for several years was superintendent of < 
the school. He is still, we are glad to say, of our 
number, and an honored elder in this church. He is 
president of the Cleveland and Pittsburg Railroad. 
Solon Severance became a member at seven years of 
age, and is now superintendent of the Woodland Ave- 
nue Sunday School, the largest in the city. He is also 
president of the Euclid Avenue National Bank. Wil- 
liam Andrews joined when six years old and is now a 
member of our church, as is James Gardner, who 



8 



114 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



joined at ten. Miss Elizabeth Blair, a teacher in Mr. 
Handy's time, is still one of our most faithful workers. 

Four teachers during this period went as foreign 
missionaries, namely Dr. N. Adams and Miss Sarah 
Van Tine, to Africa, Mr. Samuel W. Castle, to the 
Sandwich Islands, and Mrs. E. Hutchings to Ceylon. 
Whether any of these were ever scholars the record 
does not state. Stephen Whitaker, a scholar, pre- 
pared for the ministry. 

There were one hundred and thirty-six teachers 
during Mr. Handy's term of office, ten of whom are 
now living. One hundred and twelve have died, and 
the whereabouts of fourteen are not known. We find 
the words "Faithful," "Efficient," "Punctual" and 
"Very Pious" entered opposite the names of many 
teachers in the record referred to above. Dudley 
Baldwin, now an honored citizen of Cleveland was sec- 
retary and librarian during this period, and Mr. John 
Severance served in the same capacity. 

Mr. Handy was followed by John A. Foot, who 
served for several years, but we have no record of his 
administration. As nearly as we can find out he was 
followed by William Slade, Jr., and he by George 
Mygatt. In 1856 Mr. F. C. Keith became superin- 
tendent, and served three years. We are glad we still 
have him with us. For many years he has been an 
elder and treasurer of church and society. Mr. 
Thomas Maynard became the next superintendent, but 
served only one year. He was called the "sweet 
singer," and was noted for the interest he took in 
music. His services were in demand, and he led the 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



115 



singing in other schools. He wore himself out in this 
work, and died in 1860. The next superintendents, 
in order, were R. F. Smith, F. M. Backus, H. M. 
Flagler, H. N. Raymond, George H. Ely, Rev. H. C. 
Haydn, Dr. C. F. Dutton and E. C. Higbee. These 
take us to 1886, the end of Mr. Higbee's term, when 
the present incumbent, C. L. Kimball, was elected. 
The two fires, through which the church passed, 
destroyed our records, so we cannot give many details 
of their work, but from the knowledge we have of 
these men we are sure a faithful work was done. Our 
brothers, John A. Foot, George Mygatt, F. M. 
Backus, George H. Ely, who have gone to their 
reward, were known and loved by us all. It would be 
interesting to dwell upon their character and influ- 
ence, did time permit. The writer became a member 
of the school in 1864, and had for his first teacher, 
F. M. Backus, to whose faithful teaching and watchful 
care after he joined the church, he owes more than he 
can express. Truly he was a man of God. 

During Mr. Ely's term of office the Sunday School 
room was remodeled, the old benches taken out, the 
floor carpeted and chairs added; the tables we now 
find so necessary were added in Mr. Higbee's term. 
It is safe to say that the leaders have kept abreast of 
the times and adopted new methods as fast as they 
were found helpful. 

We are glad to record that Rev. Theodore Y. 
Gardner, who now has charge of the church at Glen- 
ville, Rev. James D. Williamson, pastor of Beck with 
church of this city, Rev. Henry Rice, pastor of a 



116 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



church in California, Chauncey L. Hamlen, pastor in 
this state, and Rev. Chauncey Goodrich, just now 
installed in Orange, N. J., were members of our 
school. Rev. B. F. Shuart, who had charge of a 
church in the Northwest until ill health forced him to 
resign, was also a member of our school. Others, 
H. C. Cunningham, Edward S. Claflin and Howell M. 
Haydn are now preparing to enter the ministry. 
C. H. Potter, the evangelist, and Miss Fanny Good- 
rich, who has done faithful mission work in the South 
for many years, were formerly members of the school. 
There may have been others of whom we have no 
record who have entered the ministry. 

Mention should be made of the long and faithful 
service of Mrs. John A. Foot as assistant superin- 
tendent, who served through several administrations. 
Her bright, sunny smile, and happy manner did every- 
one good who met her. No matter what the weather, 
she was always in her place when in the city. Neither 
should we fail to mention the names of J. W. Walton, 
H. E. Brooks, W. R. Bartlett, L. B. Leonard and 
Mrs. S. S. Gardner, who have served as associate 
superintendents in these later years. Mention should 
also be made of L. P. Carr, Levi Stedman, W. R. Coe, 
E. S. Kidder, and William Sargent, who served as librar- 
ians, and G. W. Stockley, John A. Foot Jr., E. Weeks, 
Robert Shackleton, Horace Hodges, who did efficient 
work as secretaries, and W. P. Stanton and Jas. N. 
Fleming, who have served most acceptably as treasurers. 
Neither should we forget the work of J. P. Standard 
and S. P. Fenn as choristers. A very important work 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



117 



was theirs and they did it well. Miss Keith, our pianist, 
has done and is still doing most efficient service. 

We would like to record here the names of the 
many who have taught in the school these many years, 
but time will not permit. No work in the Sabbath 
School is more important than that of the teacher. 
We call to mind, however, some who have passed 
away. There was "Father Proudfoot" who taught for 
so many years and who always remembered us at fes- 
tival times with some of his choice poetry ; Mr. Boies, 
who did excellent work with his Bible class, training 
many who afterwards became faithful teachers; also 
E. H. Potter, who for so long had a large class of boys 
from the industrial school. What an interest he took 
in them and how we missed him when the Good 
Father took him home ; Mrs. Burgert, too, did a faith- 
ful and lasting work; Mr. Vail's memory is still fresh 
with many of us; Mr. Fleming was another of the 
faithful ones, as was Mrs. Flora Payne Whitney. 

In the primary department the first record we find 
of a superintendent was Miss Sophia Hewitt. She 
was followed by Miss Sarah Fitch who held the posi- 
tion for twenty-five years. What a grand work she 
did! It is known to you all and her influence will last 
as long as the church stands. She was ably assisted 
by Miss Florence Wick, and later by Miss Lillie 
Barstow. Mr. James Worley also made himself 
useful in this department for quite a while. Miss 
Fitch was succeeded by Miss Hattie Spencer, 
who had grown up in the school, and when 
she left Miss Fleming took her place. Her successor 



118 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



was Miss Eva Mills, who was followed by Miss Grace 
Williams who held the place until we moved into our 
present chapel, when a new department was added, 
the intermediate, and she assumed charge of that, 
Miss Mills, now Mrs. George Williams, taking charge 
of the primary department. The East End soon 
claimed her as it has so many of our good workers, 
ours being a training school for that part of the city. 
We were fortunate in inducing Miss Spencer, now 
Mrs. H. C. Freeman, who had once served so success- 
fully, to take charge of the work again. Living in 
the East End she was soon obliged to give it up, and 
Miss Brooks took her place. We now know her as 
Mrs. Jas. Fleming, wife of our faithful treasurer. 
Our primary department superintendents always get 
married, but so long as it is to some one in the school, 
as in Mrs. Fleming's case, we do not object. Mrs. 
Fleming has had for assistants, Miss Duckett and Mrs. 
Mcllrath. Miss Spencer, Miss Fleming, Miss Mills, 
Miss Ducket and Miss Williams have all grown up in 
the school, and were admirably fitted for their work, 
which speaks well for their training. 

We can only estimate the number who have joined 
the church from the school, as the records for the 
earlier years are so incomplete, but it is safe to say 
that at least 750 have become members and many of 
these are our best workers today. We have con- 
tributed for missionary objects more than twenty-five 
thousand dollars. The number enrolled since the 
organization of the school, cannot be stated, but it is 
is in the neighborhood of four thousand scholars and 
a thousand teachers. 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



119 



As regards work outside of the Sabbath School, we 
have no record until the later years of its history. 
Doubtless there were missionary bands in the earlier 
years, and good work accomplished, but no mention 
of them is made. In 1875 Miss Mary Goodrich 
organized the "Little Missionaries," for boys, and had 
charge of the work until her death, being ably 
assisted by Miss Kittie Worley. Miss Agnes Foot 
succeeded her and conducted the work for several 
years. Miss Fanny Goodrich organized the "Helping 
Hands" in March, 1875, and when she left the city, the 
work was taken up by Mrs. P. M. Hitchcock and Mrs. 
Alfred Wick. A little later the "Sarah Fitch Band" 
was started, and had for leaders Mrs. C. L. Cutter, 
Miss Ely and Mrs. E. W. Haines. All of these bands 
have contributed not a little money to help on the 
cause of missions. They have outgrown their early 
estate and are not now known as such. In 1884 the 
"Girls' Foreign Missionary Society" was formed by Mrs. 
Arthur Mitchell, who was followed by Mrs. S. P. Fenn, 
who for twelve years held the society together and did 
a very useful and successful work. A few years ago 
the name was changed to "The Haydn Circle," in honor 
of our beloved pastor. Upon Mrs. Fenn's retirement, 
a year ago, Miss Kittie Keith became President, and 
the "Circle" keeps up its good record. Since its 
organization, it has averaged eighty, latterly a hundred 
dollars a year to missions. 

One of the most helpful lines of work, Mrs. Free- 
man writes me, was the girls' prayer meeting, which 
was held after school hours, once a week. They 



120 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



learned the books of the Bible, some of the Psalms, 
commandments, beatitudes, and had their Bible read- 
ings. Each was encouraged to pray for herself, 
and many seemed benefitted and helped. This 
work is partly reproduced in the Junior Christian 
Endeavor Society, which has had for leaders Mrs. 
Freeman, Tracy Williams, Miss Maggie Duncan, Miss 
Weaver and Rev. F. W. Jackson. 

The "Livingstone Society," composed of young 
men, was organized under the leadership of Samuel A. 
Raymond, and while it lasted, did good work. The 
reason of its discontinuance is not known. 

For a number of years we had a band known as 
"Willing Workers," composed of the younger mem- 
bers of our school. They met Saturday afternoons. 
This work was conducted at different times by Miss 
Spencer, Miss Mills, Miss Clara and Miss Grace 
Williams, sometimes as a sewing school. 

In May, 1893, there was organized under the 
patronage of Mrs. Samuel Mather, to whom we owe 
so much, a sewing and vacation class, composed of 
girls from seven to twelve years of age, meeting Sat- 
urday afternoons. During May and June the average 
attendance was twenty- two. When the public schools 
closed for the summer vacation it was thought best to 
have the class meet daily from nine to ten a. m. The 
object of this was two-fold ; to gather in children who 
otherwise w r ould be in the street exposed to evil 
influences, and while there to teach them some- 
thing useful. Some of the girls had brothers 
who wanted to come, and as soon as permission 



STONE CHUKCH ANNALS. 



121 



was given, the boys flocked in, and there was 
soon so large a class that it was found necessary 
to employ an experienced kindergartner. While 
the girls were taught sewing, the boys worked at 
various things, in line with kindergarten work. The 
class was called a u vacation class," and held its sessions 
for ten weeks. The enrollment was one hundred and 
eleven, average attendance sixty-five. At the opening 
of public school the daily sessions of the class were 
closed and they met again on Saturday afternoons. 
The enrollment for the winter of 1893 was one hund- 
red, the average attendance forty. In the summer of 
1894, when class work began, the numbers had 
increased so that a seamstress was secured to work 
with the girls, while the kindergartner took charge of 
the boys. Before this the work of the sewing assistant 
was voluntary. The class continued during the winter of 
1894-5, and was well attended. The vacation class of 
1895 was placed in charge of Miss Davis, of the 
public schools, Mrs. Mather's reasons for this being a 
desire to bring to the notice of the Board of Educa- 
tion, and the public in general, the idea of a summer 
school for children, locating them in different parts of 
the city where most needed. This class was held in 
the Rockwell school annex, and was a great success. 
The enrollment was one hundred and thirty -five, the 
average attendance seventy-five. There being a demand 
for an advanced class, where finer needle-work could 
be taught, such a class was formed August 30th, meet- 
ing Tuesdays and Thursdays after school. This class 
now numbers twenty-six. These classes are supported 



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STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



by Mrs. Mather. Mrs. Wm. E. Jones is at the head 
of the vacation class, and was assisted the first year 
by Mrs. J. A. Foot, Jr., Miss Weaver, Miss Nichols 
and others. To these and their faithful helpers much 
credit is due for the successful work accomplished. 

The last work we will speak of, and not by any 
means the least, is that of the "Boys' Club," which 
was organized in February, 1892, under the charge of 
Mr. and Mrs. E. W. Haines. The enrollment was in 
1892, 257 ; in 1893, 200, and in 1894, 178. The 
average attendance has been about sixty. Many of the 
boys have been with the club from the beginning, and 
evidence much love for it. There has been marked 
improvement in the character and manners of the boys 
who have longest been with the club. The workers 
have never numbered over twenty, and last year but 
ten, and nearly all of these, with the exception of Mr. 
and Mrs. Haines, who give so much of their time to 
this work, are from outside of the church. If a suffi- 
cient number from our own church would enlist in this 
work, the capacity of the rooms would soon be 
taxed to their utmost. New members are now charged 
a fee of ten cents. At least six of these boys have 
this year joined the Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tion. A number have entered our Sabbath School. 
Monthly lectures are held and a monthly examination 
in history. Certain classes of boys have been taught 
drawing and book-keeping, by volunteer teachers; the 
number reached and the good accomplished being 
apparently limited only by the number of teachers 
available for such work. Surely no work in the church 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



123 



is more important than this boys' club, and there 
ought to be plenty of helpers. The club has, from the 
start, had one paid assistant ; first, Miss Nibloe, whose 
health failed her, and now Miss Lewis, of this city. 
About sixty of the other boys are about to be formed 
into a club of their own with a gymnasium and class 
work. A Parish house is also in contemplation, 
which is designed to greatly broaden this work. 

Very likely we have omitted the names of many 
who have deserved mention, and we ask the indulgence 
of all if this is found to be true. In a paper of this 
kind, going over so many years, it is well nigh impos- 
sible to get the names of every worker, or duly to credit 
each with the measure of service which is his due. 



124 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



Our young People. 

MR. GILES R. ANDERSON. 

The exact time when the first gathering of young 
people of the Old Stone Church, met for a prayer 
meeting, is unknown. 

It was probably in the latter half of the pastorate 
of Dr. Goodrich. Previous to this, there had been 
meetings on Wednesday evenings, that were of the 
nature of a Bible class and prayer meeting combined, 
and it was from these that the idea of a young people's 
prayer meeting was conceived. 

They were first held on Sunday evening, before the 
church service, and I am told that our present pastor, 
years ago, when considering a call to the Old Stone 
Church, made the remark, "that the heartiness with 
which the young people conducted that prayer meet- 
ing, was one of the things that made him desire to cast 
in his lot with us." The meeting was finally changed 
to Tuesday night, and was carried on for years, with 
occasional summer intermissions, and from them, in 
due time, came the Young People's Association and 
the Christian Endeavor Society of later years. 

Our Young People's Association was formed in 
1881, and united with the Union Young People's 
Association of Cleveland. In the same year, in far off 
Maine, Dr. Clark started, with a few others, the first 
Christian Endeavor Society. 

The main difference between it and our Young 
People's Association was the pledge of consecration to 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



125 



a more devoted Christian life, of daily prayer, scrip- 
ture reading and church attendance. This one feature 
of the Christian Endeavor Society was the vital point, 
and one by one, the various Young People's Associa- 
tions adopted the Christian Endeavor name and 
pledge and became Christian Endeavor Societies. 

In 1892, the Old Stone Church Association voted 
to become a Christian Endeavor Society, that it might 
be in touch with the young people of the city. There 
was no marked change in our society when the new 
name and pledge were adopted, for we had always 
been known to have good meetings, and our young 
people were heart and soul in the work. 

Our Christian Endeavor friends had a hard time, 
therefore, to convert us to their idea. The associate 
pastors had all been young men, who had regularly 
attended our meetings, and to their energetic work and 
kindly advice, the success of our services must to a 
great extent be attributed. 

As we look back over the past few years, we are 
confident that the pledge has helped the leaders, and 
made stronger the weaker members, enabling them to 
do their part in the meetings, and to-day, we are glad we 
belong, first, to the Old Stone Church, and next, to the 
vast multitude of Christian Endeavor workers, who 
have stirred up all denominations and sent a new life- 
blood thrilling through the veins of the universal 
church. 

Some of the fathers of the church have felt 
doubtful as to the wisdom of giving their sup- 
port and approval to this youthful band, and have 



126 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



looked upon the phenomenal growth of the united 
societies with fear that it might prove to be subversive 
of church discipline. These doubts are fast wearing 
away as the true meaning of the Christian Endeavor 
pledge and principles become better understood and 
the result need not be feared. 

Our society now has among its members some of 
the older young people, who well remember and cher- 
ish the memories of the beloved fathers and mothers 
of this church ; and again, we have the newer recruits 
from the Sabbath school, to whom the past is only a 
matter of history. Such relative differences must 
always exist as the years roll by ; and as the scroll of 
our church history lengthens, there is no doubt, but 
that as we, who in our youth, knew and loved the 
grey haired leaders of the past, are loyal to the Old 
Stone Church, so will they who follow us in the 
Christian Endeavor Society be loyal to this beloved 
church, and endeavor in their lives to emulate the 
virtues of those who, though dead, yet live in the 
work done here, "In His name." 

Our Sabbath school is a preparation for Christian 
Endeavor work, and what West Point is to our armies, 
the Christian Endeavor Society is to the church, with 
one valuable additional thing, namely, practice. The 
Christian Endeavor Society gives theory, drill and 
practice ; this latter West Point does not give. Her 
foes are imaginary, ours are real. The West Point 
man may know how, but is not now often called into 
practice; whereas we have always before us opportuni- 
ties for battle against the evils in ourselves and in 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



127 



our midst, and can thus gain greater victories in the 
cause of Christ. 

When any definite church work has been placed 
in our hands we have endeavored to prove ourselves 
worthy of the trust, as to our success let others speak, 
and not we ourselves. Our desire is that our members 
may have such training, that as the years roll by and 
we are called upon to fill the places of the honored 
ones gone before, we may be able to carry on the 
work, so near to our hearts, in a manner befitting mem- 
bers of this historic church, and worthy of record in 
her history. 

We have now fifty-three active, sixteen associate, 
and fifteen sustaining members, and are organized 
with the usual officers and with committees for special 
lines of work. 

Our Devotional committee has charge of the prayer 
meetings. Our Lookout committee endeavors to get 
new members and also to keep all members alive to 
their duties. The Entertainment committee has charge 
of our social gatherings. Our Missionary committee 
cares for the funds collected and provides for mission- 
ary meetings. The funds disbursed by this committee 
and its predecessor thus far amount to about two 
hundred and fifty dollars. 

Our Good Citizenship and Temperance committees 
follow out the general plan of work laid out by the 
Union committees of like name. Our Systematic 
Beneficence committee tries to promote systematic 
giving among our members, especially through the 
tithe-giver's pledge. This work will tell in the future 



128 



STONE CHUKCH ANNALS. 



receipts of this church, if our members are prospered, 
as about twenty-three per cent, of our active member- 
ship are tithe-givers. Our active and associate mem- 
bers are indebted to the few sustaining ones, our 
special friends in the church, whose kindly aid has 
enabled us to do many things, in a limited time which, 
unaided, we could not not have accomplished, and for 
this help we are truly grateful. 

The letters, "C. E.," stand for more than Christian 
Endeavor, and many mottoes have been made with 
them, but the one which seems to fit the C. E. idea the 
best, is "Christ Everywhere." The Christian Endeavor 
societies aim to place and keep Christ first, in their 
own hearts, and then spread the good news and take 
Christ with them, into business life and citizenship. 

Our midweek meetings have been helpful. The 
past history is good to look upon, and yet, as our 
pastor said in his anniversary sermon, "It is better to 
live than to write about life." So we, the young 
people, turn our faces to the years to come. "Reach- 
ing forth unto those things which are before," we 
"press toward the mark, for the prize of the high 
calling of God, in Christ Jesus." 

As in the past, so in the future, will we stand ready 
to answer the calls of our beloved church, remember- 
ing that, "the things that are seen are temporal, but 
the things that are not seen are eternal," we will 
endeavor to give all things their proper place, and be 
loyal to the Master's word, which carries in it a 
promise: — 

"Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his right- 
eousness and all these things shall be added unto you." 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



129 



THE LADIES' SOCIETY. 
1856-4895* 

MRS. H. K. CUSHING. 



The story of the Ladies' Society of this church, for 
the first twenty-five years of its existence, has been 
written by an abler pen than mine — Mrs. Mary Fair- 
banks. As there is no other record of its beginning, 
and of its early aims and labors, I trust that the writer 
of that record, who was one of the earlier secretaries 
of this society, will pardon me if I give the history in 
her own words : 

"Because there are many now of this congregation 
who are not familiar with the youth of this organiza- 
tion, and because its record antedates and its work 
opened the way to some of Cleveland's noblest philan- 
thropies, it has been thought advisable to give the 
story of its beginning, its purpose and its accomplish- 
ment. And here u Eemembrance wakes with all her 
busy train." Not many of you can recall the vision 
of the old stone church of blessed memory. 

It was very plain in its outward form, 
And had little of sculptured grace, 

But the heirs of a rich inheritance 
Came oft to that hallowed place. 

It had high-backed pews with paneled doors 

That opened with willing hands, 
For saint and sinner welcome found 

Alike in that Christian band. 



9 



130 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



With the picture of the Old Stone Church, comes 
back as memory's most honored guest, the beloved 
pastor, Dr. Aiken, who for more than a quarter of a 
century, went in and out before this people. Stately 
and commanding in form, lofty in his every thought 
and purpose, powerful in his logic and unflinching in 
his truth, he held the faithful love and reverence of 
this people, and stood among the priesthood of his 
time as an oracle. 

That pictured face upon the wall, cannot reflect 
the fire of his eagle eye, nor the resounding tones of 
his earnest voice. Though, he perhaps would have 
said, as did Moses of old, "Oh Lord, I am not 
eloquent, but I am slow of speech and of a slow 
tongue," yet every utterance was one of wisdom and 
often flashed with a brilliancy for which he never 
labored. Unstudied and self -forgetful in all his move- 
ments, there was a fascination in his simple manners 
which belongs always to men of genius. 

Is it strange, that with such a pastor, the limited 
accommodations of our first church, should have 
become inadequate to the demands of the rapidly 
increasing congregation ? A new house was decided 
upon, and while many a heart felt a pang to see the 
shrine at which it had worshipped, thus rudely broken, 
there arose, in 1853, on this familiar site a stately 
edifice, commodious in its arrangement and beautiful 
in its proportions. 

Still cherishing tenderly the memory of the olden 
time and the humbler church, all felt a just pride in 
the completion of the new, and at once sought to meet 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



131 



all obligations and expenses. And here we come to 
the origin of this society. 

Hitherto the business interests of the church had 
been cared for exclusively by the trustees, and the 
secular affairs of this organization were in the hands 
of our business men, whose multiplying duties were 
bringing to them heavy burdens. The question arose 
in the active minds of some of the zealous sisters of 
the church, whether there was not for them something 
to do in the accomplishment of the church plans — 
might not they be helpers and co-workers % The 
prime movers of this innovation were women, discreet 
in opinions and judicious in counsel — none other than 
Mrs. Henrietta Day Aiken, wife of our pastor, and 
Mrs. Emma Mason, one of his most zealous adherents. 
The utterance of these names is like the sweet refrain 
of a vanished melody. In that well-remembered sick 
room, from which Mrs. Aiken so rarely ventured, were 
held the conferences of these two Christian women, 
and when on a certain Sunday morning, our pastor 
announced from the pulpit his wish to meet in counsel 
with the female members of his congregation, there 
was a nutter of surprise as to the motive of this 
unusual summons. 

The meeting was largely attended, and the proposal 
of a plan for systematic effort on the part of the ladies 
for creating a fund and assuming the responsibility of 
certain expenses, was received and discussed with 
interest. 

The several objects of the organization were, assist- 
ance in the completion of the church, its subsequent 



132 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



furnishing, supplying the necessities of the poor who 
should come under the notice of the visiting commit- 
tee, and the contributing to other works of benevo- 
lence, in which this church, from its history and 
location, should be quick to engage. Another object, 
by no means secondary, was the uniting in Christian 
friendship, those who should thus make common 
cause. 

A constitution was submitted, officers were chosen, 
and in January, 1856, "The Ladies' Society" became 
in the fullest sense, the help-meet of the church. 

The fund was to be sustained by each member 
pledging herself to contribute each month a specified 
sum, ranging from twenty-five cents to one dollar, 
some even contributing five dollars per month. The 
membership of the society was assigned by districts to 
a visiting committee, whose duty it was to collect the 
monthly dues. A President, Vice President, Secretary 
and Treasurer, with various committees constituted the 
Board of Management. Its first President was Mrs. 
Fanny Parsons. Apt in suggestion and ready in 
device, she was a leading spirit in this society so long 
as her health permitted her to share its labors. In 
1865 her useful life ended, and her grave was made 
among the friends of her earlier days. 

Side by side with her in council and in zeal, was 
the first Vice President, Mrs. Julia Starkweather. As 
we turn back the leaves of this record, we look in vain 
for those who were the vigorous and efficient women 
of that earlier time, whose well-bestowed zeal and 
hearty co-operation with their pastor, made the First 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



133 



Presbyterian Church a name and an influence to be 
honored for all time in Cleveland history. 

Tenderly do we remember those who have "entered 
upon that day which no evening ever closes." The 
simple calling of some of their names will touch the 
hidden spring in many a heart that keeps their memory 
green, and will people this room with familiar faces, 
that long since vanished from our sight : Mrs. Gardner, 
Mrs. Stetson, Mrs. Carson, Mrs. Aiken, Mrs. Mason, 
Mrs. Mary Cushing, Mrs. Mary Jane Sterling, Mrs. 
Sizer, Mrs. Bingham, Mrs. Stedman, Miss Martha Stair, 
Mrs. Raymond, Mrs. Wooden, Mrs. Sargent, Mrs. 
Sackrider, Mrs. Cutter, Mrs. Spencer. 

Our first Secretary was Mrs. John E. Lyon, who 
put courage into the hearts of all who worked with her. 

Our first Treasurer was Mrs. J. B. Waring, whose 
present home is in California. 

Though the fund of the society was at that time 
exceedingly modest, we have record of its most judi- 
cious disbursement. We gratefully record here the 
early services of these first members. 

Probably one of the proudest days in our history 
was when after much conference, we drew with a 
royal hand upon our Treasurer for the requisite funds 
to pay for the pulpit furniture of our new church. A 
committee had been delegated to select and purchase 
in New York, the sofa and arm-chairs that should be 
worthy of their purpose, and when in due time they 
stood in their appointed place, and our then stately 
pastor sat upon the crimson cushions, we felt that each 
was worthy of the other, and they who had made this 



134 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



offering to our temple, were almost self-righteous in 
the deed. One of that purchasing committee was 
Mrs. Weddell, whom some of us still hold in loving 
remembrance. 

A year of zealous work and gratifying success had 
passed, when by one of those inscrutable providences, 
which defy human wisdom and foresight, our beauti- 
ful temple was laid in ruins. None who were con- 
nected with this congregation in the winter of 1852, 
will forget with what dismay we saw the relentless 
flames darting through and encircling the lofty spire. 
Nor will they forget how sadly we gathered on the 
Sabbath following, within the circumscribed limits of 
an "upper chamber," (then known as Chapin's Hall) 
to listen to the pastor as he spoke to us those tender 
words, Tsa. 64-11 — "Our holy and our beautiful house, 
where our fathers praised thee, is burned up with fire, 
and all our pleasant things are laid waste." Here 
again was a new incentive for combined effort. 
Scarcely had the smoldering fires died out, ere the 
stroke of the hammer and the skill of the architect 
were bringing out of the unsightly ruin, the edifice in 
which we next worshipped. The Ladies' Society, a 
recognized power in the church, devoted itself with 
increased ardor to the work of re-building. Under 
the leadership of Mrs. John A. Foot, as President, 
and Mrs. S. Williamson as Vice President, with the 
most efficient committees that ever seconded the 
efforts of their officers, we may perhaps claim for our 
society its most self-sacrificing and eventful period. 
The years were bringing weakness and infirmity to the 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



135 



Moses upon whom we had leaned in his strength, and 
God raised up Aaron to be a mouth unto this people. 
Ah ! those were sad days in the history of this congre- 
gation, when we could not shut our eyes and ears to 
the faltering step and failing voice of our beloved 
Pastor, and yet could scarce consent that another 
should take his place. 

It was in 1859, that Dr. Goodrich came to us, nom- 
inally as our assistant pastor, but virtually assuming 
control of church affairs, and never did a finer or 
nobler nature adjust itself to the exigences of peculiar 
circumstances. With tender reverence, he honored the 
dear old man who still held his seat in the pulpit 
chair, while he took up the work of the pastorate, not 
as though he assumed a charge, but rather carried out 
and fulfilled what another had begun. With his 
advent came a new impetus to our work. The growth 
of the church was rapid, and numerous were the 
demands made upon the time and funds of the Ladies' 
Society. A mission school was established at what 
was then known as Wassonville, and under the pro- 
tection of the First Church and Ladies' Society after- 
wards became the North Church. When a new organ 
was needed, there were drafts made upon our treasury 
to aid in payment thereof, and there floats back to us 
as on some anthem strain, the memory of one, who 
for years like David of old, praised "the Lord with 
instruments and organs." How vividly do we 4 recall 
the tall form of Mr. Dewitt, who sang in the "singers 
seat," and how gratefully do we remember his ready 
responses to our appeals for help in the carrying out 
of our Society's work. 



136 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



The war which passed over us, leaving in its train 
thousands of wrecked and shattered lives, opened to 
us a branch of labor. 

Well-filled boxes went out from our busy rooms to 
gladden the hearts and homes of many a missionary, 
who had taken up his cross amid the privations of the 
frontiers. When the poor freedmen reached out their 
helpless hands, from which the shackles had but just 
fallen, our Society gave of its time and its funds to 
their necessities. 

Perhaps one of the most signal undertakings of this 
Society, fraught with richest results, was the opening 
in 1863, of a temporary home for the protection of 
friendless women, who through misfortune were pen- 
sioners upon public charity. 

As has been before implied, the location of our 
church in the very heart of the city had made it one of 
the centering points of mission work. Our pastor, Dr. 
Goodrich, a man in the prime of his years, with a large 
heart and clear judgment, was early recognized in 
this community as humanity's friend. The many 
women in misfortune, who applied for help, suggested 
to him the idea of a "Strangers' Home." A special 
fund was raised by a fete given by the Ladies' Society, 
and a house rented for the purpose specified. 

We may not follow here the progress of this work, 
but it would be interesting to note how step by step 
we climbed, and how encouraged by the hearty co-oper- 
ation of other Societies, the great chain of charities 
unfolded into a Woman's Home, a Retreat, a Hos- 
pital, a Young Woman's League, an Old Ladies' Home, 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



137 



and an Open Door, and how this church, and notably 
this Society, gave to two of these charities, the 
noble woman Sarah Fitch, whom they long honored 
as President. 

For fifteen years she was the trusted banker of this 
Society, and even when pressed by other duties, she 
resigned that office, we still made her the almoner of 
our charities. It has not been possible to gather 
the entire list of those who have been officially 
connected with us. Mrs. Ursula Andrews served 
as one of our earlier presidents, and Mrs. Foot, 
Mrs. Williamson and Miss Fitch measured their terms 
by years. The duties of Secretary were successively 
assigned to Mrs. J. E. Lyon, Mrs. A. G. Colwell, Mrs. 
A. W. Fairbanks, Mrs. Proctor Thayer, Mrs. Henry 
Raymond, Mrs. G. H. Ely, Mrs. Henry Johnson, Mrs. 
Charles Whitaker, Mrs. E. C. Higbee and Mrs. George 
Gardner. Mrs. Morrell was for many years the effi- 
cient treasurer and Mrs. A. H. Potter filled the Presi- 
dent's chair during 1880. 

There are many incidents of interest, and evidences 
of progress and efficiency in this organization which 
this limited record may not embrace. We may 
mention here the change in the mode of collecting the 
monthly subscriptions, when, instead of a visiting 
collector, the present custom of receiving the dues on 
the third Sunday of each month in a marked envelope 
was inaugurated. The sum total which this Society 
collected and disbursed during its first twenty-five 
years, was not less than $25,000. 



138 



STONE CHUKCH ANNALS. 



It is not in egotism, but rather in tenderness that 
we recall a tribute once paid to us by Dr. Goodrich, 
when he said he could "not well see how the work of 
this church could be carried on without the Ladies' 
Society." So thoroughly did he endorse the principle 
of our association, that he desired to have the daugh- 
ters early trained to take their share of responsibility, 
and in 1863, he called the young ladies of his congre- 
gation together, as Dr. Aiken years before summoned 
the mothers to conference and co-operation. The out- 
come of that gathering was the formation of the 
Young Ladies' Mission Society, now called the Good- 
rich Society, in honor of its founder, whose first duty 
was to care for the North Church Sunday School, 
meeting its expenses, and in various ways looking 
after its interests. Keeping step with the culture and 
love of the beautiful, which friendly surroundings must 
inevitably develop, and recognizing the fact that the 
tastes and fancies of our fresher natures may praise the 
Lord, he assigned to this new society the congenial 
duties of sustaining social, literary and musical enter- 
tainments, that should unite the congregation in 
common interests. It was in his time and rather as a 
tribute to his love of flowers, that their perfume became 
a holy incense, and a floral committee was established, 
which has since rendered loving service in filling the 
church vase with the choicest offerings of garden and 
conservatory. 

In these days of modern improvements in churches 
as in homes, it is not easy to recall the emptiness and 
cheerlessness of church rooms, or the disadvantage at 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



139 



which much of our work was formerly done. In this 
connection, we are reminded of the sexton, who for 
more than thirty years served this church and its 
societies, with a fidelity to its ministers and its mem- 
bers, that made him the personal friend of all. The 
great doors, which for so many Sabbath mornings he 
had swung back, were to him as the very gateway to 
Heaven, and the good men who through all these years 
stood in this pulpit, he served, as prophet, priest and 
king. This church was to him a temple, and its 
humblest duties honored him. Faithful John Heard ! 
We write your name within our book as one worthy 
to be remembered. 

The history of this Society is so inwrought with 
that of this church, that we may not separate their 
records. We must hasten past the years so fraught 
with interest to all, nor may we dwell upon those days 
of trial, when around our shrouded altar we knelt, a 
stricken band. I do not need to recite here the bitter- 
ness of the year of 1874, in whose report I find these 
touching words: "In the noon of summer, we knew 
that our beloved pastor had heard a voice from above, 
stronger and sweeter than our tears and pleadings, 
and so we have walked in shadow all the year." Not 
yet can we write or speak of that sorrow. Nor does 
the anguish of that day fade from our memory, when 
there flashed across the ocean the terrible news that 
Dr. Goodrich was dead. He had sought by a season 
of entire rest from pastoral labor, and in the diversion 
of foreign travel, to restore his overtaxed energies, 
and we his people had consented to the separation, 



140 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



cheered by the bright hope of his early return. Oh 
day of tears ! when he was borne a silent guest to the 
altar at which he had so often ministered. We were 
indeed bereaved, but not desolate. Our very love for 
the pastor, strengthened our love for the work he had 
commended to us, and so we wrought on in tears, but 
in zeal. Already had his impaired health warned him 
to supplement his strength by assistance, and another, 
who walked with God, came into our plans, our inter- 
ests, and — we write it in thankfulness — in due time 
our hearts. It was in 1872, that Dr. Haydn first 
officiated in this pulpit. It was in 1874, that he took 
up the work which had dropped from the powerless 
hand of his friend and co-worker. 

Through the years that have followed, Dr. Haydn 
has been the counsellor on whom we have leaned. 
Coming by direct providence, into a place which was 
not surely of his own seeking, he took the sacred 
trust in no spirit of self-sufficiency, but as one who 
should say, "necessity is laid upon me." He knew the 
ardor of this people's love for the men whom he suc- 
ceeded, and he shared our overwhelming sorrow in 
their loss. A sweeter tribute we cannot bring to him 
than this fact, he comforted us. Of a nature warmly 
sympathetic, he carried the burdens of the many. The 
two societies on which he learned to rely, found 
through him, enlarged spheres for their ministrations." 

Since these words were written, fourteen years 
have passed, years of unwearied work by the faithful 
members of this society. Many have passed on before 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



141 



us to their reward, whither their works do follow them ; 
while we who have been left behind, have gazed wist- 
fully along the shining path where they have vanished 
from our sight, and have almost seemed to hear the 
welcome words, "Come, ye blessed ! for I was naked 
and ye clothed me ; 1 was sick, and ye visited 
me. * * Inasmuch as ye have done it unto 
the last of these, ye have done it unto me." 
How many hearts here present will respond to the 
names of Miss Sarah Fitch, Mrs. A. G. Colwell, Mrs. 
Andrews, Mrs. Thome, Mrs. Foot, Mrs. Williamson, 
Mrs. A. H. Potter, Mrs. Starkweather. Let us keep 
their memory green. 

January 5th, 1884, our house of worship was 
again laid desolate by fire. The injury to the chapel 
was not so great but that a few weeks would suffice to 
render it habitable ; but though the walls of the 
church endured the fire as they had before done, the 
interior was a Avreck. A long and rather exciting 
struggle ensued between those who desired the removal 
of the church to an up-town location, and those who 
religiously believed that her sphere of duty and centre 
of influence lay in this part of the city. In the first 
meeting of the two ladies' societies, a joint meeting 
held in the house of one of the members, soon after 
the fire, a vote was taken to ascertain the feeling of 
those present on this subject, which was nineteen to 
four in favor of rebuilding on the old site. On April 
4th, they again met in the chapel. In the interim 
regular meetings had been held in the houses of the 
members, and work had gone on as usual. 



142 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



Other noteworthy events in our record, such as the 
change in the time of the annual meeting from Jan- 
uary to April, in 1887 ; the release of the expenses of 
the Sunday School, which the Goodrich Society 
assumed in 1887, and the various and unexpected 
demands upon our diminishing income, may be passed 
with brief mention. Our sister society in Calvary 
church, took from our working as well as our financial 
strength ; and later, Bolton church, and even Winder- 
mere chapel, have taken away some more of our 
members. We bid them God speed in their new fields 
of labor, but it is not easy to fill their places here. 

This society has received and expended, since 1885, 
the sum of $9,336. (The records of 1881-1885 are 
lost.) Our income is still derived from the regular 
monthly contributions of the members, paid on the 
third Sunday of every month, and one-half of the 
general offering received on the same day. With this, 
and some few gifts in addition, it bears all the expenses 
of the yearly house-cleaning of the church and chapel; 
sends out two "missionary boxes" yearly ; supports a 
missionary nurse in the church district ; gives two or 
three pastor's receptions every winter, and provides a 
very large number of garments and articles of bed- 
ding for the poor and the sick under its care. 

This is a brief resume of the work of the Ladies' 
Society. It is said that Dr. Aiken used to call it his 
"right hand." We hope that it may long be a helping 
hand. 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



143 



The Outer Circle-Missions. 

1833-4895. 

MRS. E. C. HIGBEE. 



"What hath God wrought ?" 

There shall be a handful of corn in the earth upon the top of 
the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon. Ps. 72 :16. 

Sixty-two years ago — 1833 — the first Missionary 
society in the Old Stone Church, indeed, the first in 
the city, was organized. 

A young man, Rev. Mr. Hutchings, had been 
called the year previous to become pastor of the 
church, who, with his young wife was already under 
appointment to go to Ceylon. 

His own interest in missions led him to talk to the 
ladies of his charge, and soon a society was formed 
consisting of fifteen or twenty from fourteen to 
eighteen years of age. Its first directress was Miss 
Sarah Van Tine, who afterwards went to Natal, Africa, 
as Mrs. Adams. Her name is still held in loving 
memory by a band of young girls in Woodland Ave- 
nue church whose society bears her name. 

Mrs. Hutchings, the pastor's wife, was secretary, 
and Miss Long, now Mrs. Mary Severance, was 
treasurer. 

Mr. and Mrs. Hutchings entered upon their mis- 
sion work in Ceylon the latter part of the same year, 
but the influence of their short sojourn in the church 
was to bear fruit later. 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



As time passed, and other churches were formed 
the missionary spirit was sustained and strengthened 
not only by the efforts and prayers of the women, 
but by the encouragement and co-operation of the 
pastors of those churches. Many who are present 
will remember the helpful encouragement which came 
from Drs. Aiken and Goodrich in all missionary effort. 
There was one parent society composed of women 
from the various churches, who met from house to 
house every fortnight, and while busy fingers prepared 
missionary outfits, or an occasional box of clothing 
for children in the native schools, missionary letters 
were read. 

None of the beautiful missionary magazines with 
which we are now favored were in existence then, and 
the letters were few and far between. At the close 
the mites were gathered, and a substantial tea was 
served at which several of the pastors were often 
present. 

Mrs. Gaylord, Mrs. Starkweather, Mrs. Weddell, 
Mrs. Kelsey, Mrs. Severance, Mrs. John A. Foot, and 
others whose names will readily occur to many of us, 
were ever ready, with true christian hospitality, to 
welcome the society to their homes. 

To Mrs. Mary Severance, probably the only sur- 
vivor of this first band of young girls, I am indebted 
for this brief sketch. She says, "Those were days of 
small things," but who can estimate the good accom- 
plished by Mr. and Mrs. Hutchings in their ten years 
in Ceylon? And are we ready to enter into the spirit 
of self-sacrifice which actuated Mrs. Adams in her 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



145 



work for the boys at Natal? Mrs. Parsons was 
married, and went out from the home of Mrs. D. S. 
Shepherd, to labor with her husband in Armenia. 

After years of faithful labor, Mr. Parsons was 
cruelly murdered while resting with his son under the 
shade of a tree. The wife and two daughters, rising 
from their sorrow, still pursued the missionary work, 
and of these two daughters whom this society helped 
to educate, one is still engaged in missionary work in 
Harpoot, Turkey, and the other in China. 

The society also prepared the outfit of Mrs. Birrill, 
who went as a bride from the home of Mrs. Henry 
Harvey more than forty years ago. The few who 
gathered at our September meeting had the rare 
pleasure of looking upon her sweet face, and hearing 
her tell how the gospel is helping to elevate our sisters 
in India. 

She is about to return to the two daughters who 
are doing faithful missionary work in the land of their 
adoption. 

It was my pleasure, fully twenty-five years ago, to 
be present at one of these parlor gatherings, and my 
mind is filled with sweet memories of those sainted 
women who wrought so faithfully and so well, and I 
can fully sympathize with the thought of Mrs. Stark- 
weather, who said they were the most blessed meet- 
ings she ever attended. 

But with the changes incident to the growth of a 
large city this pleasant social relation could not con- 
tinue — churches were springing up in remote parts of 
the city, and distances becoming so great that the old 



10 



146 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS, 



order of things must pass away. Three years previous 
to this time, at the suggestion of the General Assem- 
bly, Woman's Boards had been formed in different 
cities; and in 1873 a Presbyterial society was formed 
among us as a branch of the Woman's Board of Phil- 
adelphia. I find in the early records of this society 
the following: "In accordance with notice a meeting 
was held in the parlors of the First Presbyterian 
Church, Sept. 8, 1873, for the purpose of organizing 
a Woman's Foreign Missionary Society in said church, 
auxilliary to the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society 
of the Presbytery of Cleveland." 

Of the committe to draft a constitution for this 
new society Miss Sarah Fitch was made chairman, and 
Mrs. Mary Williamson secretary, and the following 
officers were elected: Mrs. H. C. Haydn, President; 
Mrs. Peter Hitchcock and Mrs. Henry Kelley, Vice 
Presidents; Mrs. Proctor Thayer, Secretary, and Mrs. 
John A. Foot, Treasurer. Of these officers Mrs. 
Haydn occupied the position of president seven years; 
Mrs. Thayer the secretaryship eight years, and Mrs. 
Foot was treasurer fourteen years; indeed, almost 
until summoned to leave us for the rich reward which 
came to her. Ever filled with loving thought for those 
around her, her heart was large enough to take in the 
whole world for whom she was ready to make any 
sacrifice. Of dear Miss Fitch, whose presence was 
always a benediction in our missionary gatherings, 
how often it was recorded, "She closed the meeting 
with prayer." 

Our society has always manifested a warm and 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



147 



prayerful interest in the missionaries adopted by the 
Presbyterial Society. 

Miss Sellers, who was given a farewell reception in 
1874, and in whose missionary outfit our ladies were 
interested, went out to China with a heart filled 
with loving zeal, and an earnest purpose to spend her 
life for the uplifting of that people, but after a brief 
term of service ill health obliged her to return to this 
country. Miss Dascomb and Miss Kuhl, for some 
years our adopted missionaries, have for more than 
twenty years been doing faithful and aggressive work 
among the girls of Brazil, counting not their life dear 
unto them that they might win these girls as jewels 
for Christ. Though Miss Dascomb has been trans- 
ferred to the care of another society we still follow 
her with loving interest. Of their school at Carytiba, 
Brazil, it is said: "The first term of 1894 opened with 
121 pupils. The presence of this school has infused 
new life into the churches of the state." Miss Fullerton, 
of Woodstock, India, and Miss Belle Marsh, of Japan, 
were for some time objects of our special regard. 

Mrs. Bessie Nelson Eddy, daughter of Dr. Nelson, 
the able editor of the Church at Home and Abroad, 
and Mrs. Mary Schauffler Labaree, daughter of Dr. 
Schauffler, who is doing such a noble work among 
the Bohemians of our own city, now claim our loving 
and prayerful interest. 

Mrs. Eddy writes us frequently from her Syrian 
home, where she adds to the duties of a christian 
mother in a christian home those of a missionary's 
wife, taking long journeys with her husband to the 



148 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



native villages, where the women gather around her, 
eager to learn how to become better wives, mothers 
and daughters. 

Mrs. Mary Schauffler Labaree is comparatively new 
to the missionary work in Persia, but with grand 
parents and parents all missionaries, she cannot fail to 
have the real missionary spirit. She writes: "I wish 
that I might be present at one of your missionary 
meetings. What good it would do me to hear one of 
the dear old hymns sung by a large body of chris- 
tians who had gathered with one aim and spirit, and 
all on the same key." She says: "I cannot yet get 
used to seeing my household possessions go sauntering 
along the road on the backs of donkeys. There is 
something indescribably droll in seeing a mattress 
fastened to each side, and perhaps a chair or two 
perched on top, a heavy rain perhaps adding to the 
discomfort," but through it all she is glad that she is 
in Persia. 

A truly missionary spirit seems from the first to 
have hovered over our church, and quite a number 
have gone out from us to distant lands. Miss Hattie 
Noyes, once a member, and a teacher in our public 
schools, has with a brother and sister labored many 
years in Canton, China. 

Sweet and precious memories cluster round the 
going out to China of Mrs. Laughlin, once our Annie 
Johnson. The sound of her sweet voice as she sang 
those consecration hymns still lingers with us. She 
gave herself joyfully to the women of China, and 
endeared herself to them during the three short years 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



149 



she was permitted to live among them, before the 
Saviour called her home. Of her, our sainted Dr. 
Mitchell wrote: "Yet a thousand times over, Annie 
has not lived in vain. Three hundred million souls 
are living and dying in China without a ray of light 
to break their gloom. Annie pitied them while she 
lived with a Christ-like love." 

We linger in loving remembrance over the few 
brief years of Dr. Mitchell's ministry among as, and 
we love to think of the earnest missionary spirit which 
pervaded the entire family, calling one for a brief 
period to Mexico, another daughter waiting year after 
year, with eager longing for sufficient health to take 
up missionary work, until, at the 25th anniversary of 
the Philadelphia Board last April she stood among the 
group of missionaries pledged to the school at Wood- 
stock, India. 

None who listened to him can ever forget the 
earnest pleadings of the now sainted Dr. Mitchell for 
missions, his own unselfish life bearing testimony to 
his earnestness. 

There are those present who in words far more 
fitting than mine could speak of the work that Miss 
Fanny Goodrich is doing among the mountain whites 
at Asheville, N. C. Going out from a home of the 
utmost refinement and culture, and with no remunera- 
tion save the approval of her divine Lord and Master, 
she has made for herself and a lady companion a sim- 
ple though tasteful home, where she lives among the 
people, teaching them to make for themselves just such 
homes, while learning to love her Saviour. 



150 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



Mrs. A. H. Potter was closely identified with our 
missionary society from its formation in 1873, and was 
rarely absent from its meetings, and her exactness in 
little as well as great things, qualified her for the posi- 
tion of Presbyterial Treasurer, which she occupied 
from the beginning until the time of her translation, 
on New Year's morn, 1894. 

When the work of Home Missions became a neces- 
sary part of our society, a new organization was 
formed, with a separate president at its head, the 
meetings alternating with the Foreign Society. 

Mrs. A. A. Thome performed the duties of this 
office most acceptably for a time, until the two socie- 
ties were united under one head, dividing the time of 
each session equally between the two subjects. This 
earnest and faithful worker has also gone to her re- 
ward with the record of a well-spent life behind her. 
I cannot forbear to mention the going out from our 
midst of several of our most earnest workers, called for 
by the formation of Calvary Society. For several years 
we held pleasant interchange of services at each place 
of worship, until Calvary became independent; and it 
was with feelings of deepest regret that we severed 
the relation which had been so tender and sweet. 

We must not forget that the children of our 
church have had a share in the grand missionary work. 
It is recorded that in 1875 a society of boys was 
organized by Miss Mary Goodrich. This society was 
called "The Young Missionaries." This was one of 
the many works for the Master which she laid down 
when he called her to himself. I quote a few loving 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



151 



words in her memory: "Be it written in your ten- 
derest words, within the annals of 1875, that dear, 
loving, prayerful, zealous Mary Goodrich vanished 
from our sight, because she was more fit for Heaven 
than earth — but record this as the legacy with which 
we are comforted — her beautiful example which is 
immortal; write too, upon the page sacred to her 
memory, 'we loved her.' " During the same year her 
sister, Miss Fanny Goodrich, formed a girls missionary 
society known as Helping Hands, afterward bearing 
the name of The Girls' Missionary Society, and 
now known as The Haydn Circle, whose members are 
helping to swell the funds of our treasury, while at the 
same time they are learning what the gospel is doing 
in foreign lands. The Willing Workers' Band was 
organized in 1887, under the leadership of Miss 
Spencer, now Mrs. Henry Freeman. A large number 
of boys and girls were instructed in missions, while 
the little girls were at the same time being taught to 
sew. 

The Sarah Fitch Band, organized m 1883, and 
named in honor of her who for so many years presided 
over the infant department of the Sabbath School, was 
composed of little girls from the Sunday School whose 
birthday offerings and busy fingers helped to swell the 
treasury. 

As one of the results of this band a beautiful silk 
quilt was made, and sent to Mrs. Labaree, our mis- 
sionary in Persia, with a list of the names of the 
youthful donors. 

We cannot estimate the value of our work for 



152 



STONE CHUKCH ANNALS. 



Christ all these years, but we know that the stream 
cannot rise higher than the fountain, so in our retro- 
spect let us see what is the story of the present society 
whose 25th anniversary occurred at Philadelphia last 
April, and of which we are one of the little rills. 

More than fifty Presbyterial societies are now 
under the care of this Board, whose object is the pay- 
ment of scholarships, the erection of school buildings, 
homes for missionaries, hospitals, schools for mission- 
ary children, aid in printing in the native tongue, and 
medical missions, and for all this work since the organ- 
ization of this society the advance has been from 
$5,244 raised the first year to $145,603.90 in 1894, 
making a total of $2,540,149.44. As a Home Mission- 
ary Society we also try to bear our part in the work 
given to the women of our church in the support of 
schools and scholarships among the Freedmen, the 
mountain whites, the mixed populations of the frontier, 
the Indians, and the Alaskans — our Ohio synodical 
society giving last year $21,000 toward the support of 
this work. Of this sum the Woman's Home Missionary 
Society of this church gave $1,155.75. Our special 
work in Home Missions has been to aid in the support 
of Mrs. Mattoon, a teacher in the College Institute in 
Asheville, N. C, and several scholarships among the 
mountain whites, and a room in the Mary Holmes 
Seminary in memory of Mrs. John A. Foot, this to be 
renewed when the Seminary, which was burned, is 
rebuilt. 

Though we may not be able to give in figures the 
amount of money flowing into these different channels, 



STONE CHUKCH ANNALS. 



153 



who can estimate the results in souls saved, and in 
lives made brighter and happier, and in the influence 
for good which is spread abroad both in our own, and 
in foreign lands. 



LEAVES FROM THE ANNALS OF. THE 
GOODRICH SOCIETY. 



MRS. SAMUEL MATHER. 



It was "In accordance with the request of the 
pastor" that "the young ladies of the First Presby- 
terian congregation met in the church parlors on the 
afternoon of the 18th of January, 1868, and were 
addressed by him with reference to the growing neces- 
sities of Christian labor, and the part in our church 
work which it might be possible for them to take." 

If a half dozen of the women who were Dr. Good 
rich's "young ladies" could sit down together and chat 
about those times we should get at the spirit that 
moved this society at its beginning far better than by 
any bare statement of facts concerning it. 

But it has been a pleasant and interesting task to 
go over the records. I had felt that I was to delve 
into the annals of antiquity and it is a surprise to find 
how many of us are alive to recall those days ; and 
when I notice that most of the founders are still wear 



154 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



ing shirt waists and sailor hats I realize that we did 
not exist seventy-five years ago. The first pages are 
in the pretty penmanship of Miss Carrie Bingham. 
This is the list of the Board of Managers elected in 
January, 1868: Mrs. E. W. Livermore, President; 
Mrs. Peter M. Hitchcock, Vice President; Miss Carrie 
E. Bingham, Secretary; Miss Helen Corning, Treas- 
urer. Directors: Miss Florence Wick, Miss Harriet 
Sackrider, Miss Fannie Backus, Miss Mary Hutchinson, 
Mrs. J. V. Painter, Miss H. A. Hurlbut, Mrs. H. D. 
Sizer, Mrs. L. Stedman, Mrs. J. H. DeWitt, Mrs. J. 
L. Talbot, Miss Lily Barstow, Miss Marion Clark. 

The second article of the Constitution says that 
u The object of the Society shall be to take such share 
of the Christian labor belonging to this church as 
properly falls to the younger members of the congre- 
gation, and to promote the better acquaintance and 
common benefit of all who worship in this place." 

The Constitution speaks of ''Christian labor" and 
there are graceful allusions in these minutes to 
"arduous work" and "duties faithfully performed," 
and yet much of the energies of the Society seem to 
have been expended in promoting the amenities of 
life; its really serious business was to make people 
happy, in all sorts of ways. After all, is there a higher 
mission than this ? 

The object of the organization is expressed in 
rather general terms, but the managers at once voted 
to appropriate two-thirds of the funds for the benefit 
of the Mission on Merchant street, this amount to be 
added to at the discretion of the Society. Sewing 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



155 



meetings were started also to make garments for the 
poor of the church. 

In those days the "Sewing Society" still kept its 
charm, at least this one did. We did not go from a 
cold sense of duty; it really was not dull business to 
hem unbleached muslin or make checked aprons. The 
record over and over again mentions "about thirty 
members present," "not quite so many as usual because 
of the severe weather," "about forty present." Always 
there was reading aloud during the working hours. Is 
it the sewing machine that prevents that now ? Have 
any of us forgotten the reading of "King Rene's 
Daughter ?" And pleasant memories are brought up 
when we note in the minutes, "Miss Spencer was very 
happy in her selection of reading, and a good deal of 
sewing was accomplished." One of the members of 
the first Reading Committee was Miss Flora Payne. 

In January, 1869, Mrs. T. D. Crocker was elected 
President; the first Vice President and Secretary were 
re-elected; Mrs. J. V. Painter was made Treasurer, and 
Mrs. Selah Chamberlain took Mrs. Painter's place as 
Director. The Society managed the Sunday school 
festivals at the Merchant street Mission. We are told 
of the first that "The addresses were short and enter- 
taining and the feasting long and sumptuous, six 
hundred children went away with hearts full and hands 
full." There's a pleasant story of the Mission Sunday 
school teachers, many of whom were members of the 
Society, meeting at the house of the President on 
Christmas eve, when Mr. John Foot was made the 
surprised recipient of a handsome gold watch from 



156 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



those who had, for years, seen and appreciated his 
earnest and cheerful labors at the Mission. 

In January, 1870, the officers of the previous year 
were re-elected with the exception of Miss Bingham; 
she declining to serve longer, her place was filled by 
Miss Florence Wick. This year, in addition to the 
Work and Reading Committees, a Floral Committee 
was appointed, Miss Clara Stone, Chairman, who 
should supply flowers for the pulpit in the church on 
Sundays. A Sewing School Committee was also organ- 
ized by the Society, of which Mrs. J. L. Talbot was 
made Chairman. The teachers were members of the 
Society. This Sewing School was carried on for a 
number of years, Mrs. Selah Chamberlain being one of 
the chairmen who succeeded Mrs. Talbot. 

In February, 1871, it was voted that the church 
extension at the Mission should be carried on under 
the auspices of the Y. L. M. S., it appointing a com- 
mittee to attend to the raising of the requisite funds. 
Nearly every year a committee was appointed by the 
Society to select and purchase new books for the 
Sunday School Library at the Mission, and this com- 
mittee's duties were not ended until the old books 
were looked over, put in order or disposed of, and the 
new ones covered and properly marked. This required 
no small amount of time, but was taken up, not as a 
task, but as an interesting opportunity. Dr. Good- 
rich's training made little of duties; all useful work 
was a pleasure. In November, 1871, the Secretary 
records, "The work today was different from that we 
have generally had, and the interest greatly enhanced, 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



157 



as we were helping to fit out a Home Missionary box." 
The records of this year make, too, the first mention 
of a committee appointed by the Y. L. M. S. to 
co-operate with the Ladies Society in taking charge of 
the Church Socials. 

In January, 1872, the following officers were 
elected: President, Mrs. A. W. Fairbanks; Vice Presi- 
dent, Mrs. F. M. Backus; Secretary, Miss Harriet 
Andrews; Treasurer, Mrs. W. S. Tyler. History of 
another sort is told as one notes the changes of names 
in the records of those days. Miss Marion Clark, Miss 
Carrie Bingham, Miss Annie Spencer, are no more 
mentioned, but we see the appointment on committees 
of Mrs. Brayton, Mrs. Cutter and others. Occasionally 
it is stated that the Society changed from its usual day 
of meeting, Friday, because the Preparatory Lecture 
was to be held that afternoon. 

The fifth annual meeting was held January 17th, 
1872, and it is recorded that it was opened by the 
Rev. Mr. Haydn. The only previous allusion to the 
break that was coming, is the regret expressed at the 
fourth annual meeting that Dr. Goodrich was prevented 
by illness from being present. Have any of the mem- 
bers of those days forgotten the Lawn Fete held at 
Mrs. Fairbank's beautiful country home in the June of 
this year ? It was, as I recall it, a novelty to all those 
engaged in arranging it, and so was planned for with 
great zest. A vision comes before me of the Spanish 
girls at the Fan Table, of the Gypsies at the Lemonade 
Well, and all the other pretty costumes and decora- 
tions. There is a vague memory of a thunder-storm 



158 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



and a scurry as a finale, but that cast no shadow over 
the brilliant opening. 

Early in the year 1873 a committee was appointed, 
one section of which was to look up and visit the 
needy ones connected with our Wassonville Mission 
(earlier known as the Merchant street Mission); the 
other section to visit among the poor of our own home 
parish. Some account of these was given at the meet- 
ings of the Society, and as garments were made for 
those needing them, the personal touch gave an added 
interest to the sewing of gusset and seam. We did 
not, however, let the parish work interfere with the 
annual filling of Home Missionary boxes. Who remem- 
bers Brainard's Hall % Here we do seem to touch 
ancient history. The Society held a very successful 
entertainment there on June 3d of this year. Tableaux, 
charades and music filled the evening. Now and again 
the Society votes to make a special contribution 
towards some need of the Home Church, such as a new 
carpet for the Sunday School room, but the larger 
part of its income is still expended for the Mission. 

Of the meeting held September 17th, of the year 
1874, it is said that "the weight on every heart and 
the word on every tongue was the death of Dr. Good- 
rich, by whom the Society was organized and to whom 
we have always looked for counsel and approval." 

In 1875 the Treasurer of the Society was Miss 
Mary Goodrich, and the minutes of December 2d 
make the bare statement that Mrs. Tyler was requested 
to fill, for the remainder of the year, the office of 
Treasurer, made vacant by the death of Miss Good- 



STONE CHUKCH ANNALS. 



159 



rich. At the annual meeting following a tribute to her 
memory from the sympathetic pen of Mrs. Fairbanks 
was read: 

IN MEMORIAM. 

"As if a household gathered in family reunion 
should miss the presence of one of its best-beloved, so 
we baptize this anniversary with tears for the sister 
and friend for whom we vainly wait. Not to us, 
to-day, will she give account of her stewardship. An 
all-wise Father took the work from her willing hands, 
leaving to us the remembered fragrance of a life that 
is hid with His. 

"Be it written in your tender est words within the 
annals of 1875 that dear, loving, prayerful, zealous 
Mary Goodrich vanished from our sight because she 
was more fit for Heaven than earth; but record this as 
the legacy with which we are comforted — her beauti- 
ful example, which is immortal. Write, too, upon the 
page sacred to her memory: 

'We loved her.' " 

And there is no further mention in these records 
of one who is still a vivid personality to all who knew 
her. Her dainty little figure made one feel that the 
cares and duties of life must be given to her in small 
measure, that the rough places must be smoothed for 
her little feet, and it was a constant surprise to find 
her taking a woman's full measure of responsibility. 
She was so bright and sunny, and withal so efficient, 
that one could not believe she was bearing burdens 
too heavy for her. It was all a service of love— love 
for her Savior, and love for her friends. The officers 



160 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



elected this year were: Mrs. Chas. Cutter, President; 
Mrs. W. S. Tyler, Vice President; Miss Nettie Hall, 
Secretary; Miss Agnes Foot, Treasurer. 

Our Wassonville Mission is now called by the name 
it still bears — the North Church — and it is recorded 
that "as that organization is taking steps in the direc- 
tion of self-support, we begin, gradually, to withdraw 
financial and personal help." This seemed the more 
proper and necessary since the Society was now called 
upon to aid in the support of an assistant pastor, the 
Eev. Mr. Shu art, and it was felt that our first duty 
was to our own church. 

Mention is made in March of this year of a New 
England Supper given by the Society. Those who 
were fortunate enough to sit that evening at the hos- 
pitable table presided over by the Widow Simpkins — 
otherwise known as Mrs. Rawson, dignified presiding 
officer at all sorts of solemn functions — laugh even 
now at the remembrance of the Yankee wit that had 
just the pat word for each new guest. She was so 
garrulous, so apologetic, as she plied us with goodies, 
that no one was willing to acknowledge he had had 
enough nutcakes or pie and yield his seat to another. 
Her son, Jedediah — known in our time as Deacon 
Raymond — made kindly effort to aid her in her enter- 
taining, but he was always saying the wrong thing. 
The lad's memory, you may recall, was phenomenal, 
and he dated all events from "the year the old man 
died." No need to say this supper was a success. 
Nearly every year the income of the Society was 
added to by an entertainment, a fact worth remember- 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



161 



ing in these days when we are saying that it is harder 
to raise money than it used to be. 

In 1877 it was agreed to omit an entertainment 
and ask for a contribution from each member of the 
Society. Some outsiders must have been asked, for a 
note of thanks was sent by the Secretary to Mr. Kim- 
ball "for his kindness in soliciting $80 for us." 

In the committees named for 1880 appear the 
names of Miss Susie and Miss Alice Mitchell, and in 
November of that year a committee was appointed to 
appropriately decorate the church for the wedding of 
Miss Mitchell and Mr. Ogden. 

In 1881 all support for the North Church was 
withdrawn except that we still paid for the omnibus 
that carried teachers from town to the Sunday Sehool. 
We still continued to pay a part of our Assistant Pas- 
tor's salary. 

In 1883 our funds were expended in various direc- 
tions; |200 was given towards the salary of the pastor 
at Calvary Chapel; $200, for the Bible Keader at the 
Stone Church, and $100 to the Superior Street Mis- 
sion. The Society, desiring to express their sympathy 
with, and appreciation of, the work of Mr. Fenn, as 
Superintendent of the North Church Sunday School, 
appointed a committee to select some books for him 
and the Secretary (Miss Burt, now) copies, with her 
minutes, his delightful and heart-warming letter of 
acknowledgment. 

In this year (1883) it was voted to change the 
name of the Society from Y. L. M. S. to the Goodrich 
M. S. Nothing could have been more fitting. Dr. 



H 



162 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



Goodrich organized the Society; he directed its work- 
ings as he directed the occupations of his daughters in 
his own home. Through those early years all service 
was rendered with a cheery zeal that was but the 
reflection of his sunny spirit. Scarcely a month passed, 
according to the records, that he did not come into 
our meeting to open it with prayer, or give a word of 
suggestion or encouragement. But the taking of the 
dear old name did not bring back the old enthusiastic 
spirit. To be sure, circumstances have altered. The 
old members move away or lay down earthly tasks, 
and the young women, who formerly would have come 
to us as the one organization open to them, are now 
casttered among other societies of the church. The 
city is larger, outside work presses more heavily, life 
is more hurried. All this, and more, could be said in 
explanation, but it is not so easy to suggest a remedy. 

Beginning in 1881, the Society met much of the 
time for several years at the homes of different mem- 
bers; one whole season the meetings were held at the 
home of Mrs. Bainbridge and Miss Harvey. Some- 
times this was to promote sociability, and sometimes 
because the chapel was not habitable. 

In January, 1884, it is recorded that the Ladies' 
Society, the Goodrich Mission Society, the Foreign 
Missionary Society and the Calvary Church Society 
met, as they did the previous year, in the parlors of 
the Stone Church for their Annual Meeting. It was 
opened by Mrs. Mitchell. After the reports Dr. 
Mitchell spoke a few words. 

The minutes are now in the hands of Miss Tennis 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



163 



and she records as one of the new directors chosen the 
name of Miss Harkness. Names of new comers 
appear on the records year by year — just now the 
names of Mrs. DeWolf and Mrs. Lemoine called this 
to mind — they take their share of work, and then they 
20. It almost seems a characteristic of the church — 
or is it of the town ? that only those who were "born 
and bred in this briar-patch" continue. A large 
majority of the names mentioned in the early years of 
the Society are active workers still, either in this 
church or at Calvary, which will seem to belong to us 
so long as Mrs. Cutter, Mrs. McBride, and a dozen 
more one could name, abide. 

It is as curious to note the omissions in the min- 
utes through all these years as to trace the changes 
the years bring. The comings and goings of the pas- 
tors are never chronicled, and now the one allusion to 
the burning of the church is found, when, at a meet- 
ing in February, 1884, it is decided to take up fancy 
work at the Society meetings, that "the sale of them 
may aid us in doing our part in the refitting of the 
church." Later the society agreed to take as its share 
the refitting of the pulpit platform with all its appro- 
priate belongings. 

Of a special meeting called in April it is reported 
that "The room was nearly full. The plans for a gar- 
den party were laid before the members and everyone 
cheerfully accepted the offices assigned them." In 
November there was a sale of articles made by the 
Society, and later the Treasurer reported that the pro- 
ceeds of these two entertainments would pay our 



164 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



building pledge and leave us $200.00 in the treasury. 
Does any one remember that there is a tablet at the 
back of the pulpit stating that it and all that pertains 
to the chancel (if we may borrow the word) was the 
gift of this society placed there in loving memory of 
Dr. Goodrich ? 

The Font was to have been included in our gift, 
but the minutes record that Mrs. Tyler made that her 
personal offering, as well as the beautiful communion 
linen which the new table made necessary. Just be- 
fore Christmas of this year donations of clothing, 
books and toys were brought to the society. Our 
church missionary, Miss Parker, with a committee, 
decided where the gifts should be bestowed among the 
poor children of our Sunday School. They were 
made up into tidy packages, with a pretty Christmas 
card attached to each, and then Miss Haydn, Miss 
Harkness, Miss Ely and Miss Tennis played Kris 
Kingle and distributed them to the children in their 
homes. 

In November, 1885, the Society appointed a com- 
mittee to select a wedding gift to be sent to the bride 
of our Associate Pastor, Rev. Wilton Merle Smith. 
This is only ten years ago, but many decades must 
pass before the thought of this sweet woman will 
cease to warm our hearts, or her beautiful character 
fail of its uplifting influence. 

The minutes of the early meetings of 1886 record 
that there was so much work to be done that all-day 
meetings were held, often thirty members present. It 
seems to be^as true of this Society as of every other 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



165 



organization, that a pressure of work brings out more 
workers and increases their interest. Is there any 
conclusion to be drawn ? 

In 1885 the Society pledged itself to give $1,000.00 
towards the building of the new North Presbyterian 
Church, and for two years every little that could be 
spared from the treasury was turned over to this fund. 

In January, 1887, the Society voted to assume the 
expenses of our own Sunday School. Hitherto this 
had been the charge of the Ladies' Society, and now 
they were left to take up other church work. In 
March of this year reference is made to decorating the 
church for Miss Haydn's wedding. 

In February, 1888, the Society laid plans to aid in 
the rebuilding of our chapel and a Linen Sale was 
decided on. We did not dream that the fingers that 
were ordinarily content with running a machine or 
stitching a plain seam, could accomplish such beauti- 
ful and artistic needlework as that very successful sale 
placed on exhibition. 

The minutes of January, 1889, speak of the little 
share our Society had on the pleasant occasion of the 
25th anniversary of the marriage of Dr. and Mrs. 
Haydn, and a copy of Dr. Haydn's beautiful, and 
appreciative letter to the Women's Societies of the 
Church is inscribed on our records. 

Is there anything further to say ? Whatever has 
happened since seems too recent to be chronicled, and 
may be left for the historian of our 100th anniversary. 
But no record of work in the Stone Church would be 
complete that failed to make mention of one whose 



166 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



life — whose very face — was always an inspiration, — 
faithful Miss Fitch! who than she ever more fully 
exemplified that word of wide meaning ? As Presi- 
dent of the Ladies' Society she was often in our meet- 
ings for a word of conference or suggestion, and when 
the Secretary, Miss Keith, tells, in March, 1892, that 
the "ladies societies of the three collegiate branches 
of the First Presbyterian Church convened for their 
last annual union meeting" in the newly rebuilt chapel, 
with Miss Fitch presiding, she records one of the last 
public duties that filled that useful and noble life. 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



167 



Personal Recollections of By-gone 

Times. 



BY MARY M. FAIRBANKS. 



We draw back to-day the curtain of seventy-five 
years, and with simple facts writ in remembrance we 
tell the story of "The Old Stone Church." 

We speak the very name in tenderness, for the 
stones of Venice or the ivy-clad cathedrals of old Eng- 
land are not more hallowed by sacred associations than 
is this temple. 

Travelers along life's busy and far-reaching ways, 
we have come back to this venerable birthday, as 
children of one household gather to review the years 
and recount their traditions. It is true that our 
legends antedate our edifice, but for many here "The 
Old Stone Church" is a life-long remembrance, and 
stands in this community of "greater Cleveland," the 
honored monument of its first Christian Endeavor. 

It is strange reading in this last quarter of our 
century, which we find in the chronicles of an authen- 
tic and graphic narrator,* who tells us that after various 
wanderings from the log court house on the Square, 
to a frame school house on St. Clair street, then across 
the street to the new Academy building, which was 
used for all sorts of public meetings, our Presbyterian 



*Mrs. Slingluff, to whom allusion is made, -with her sisters, the Misses Blair, 
prepared a bundle of notes of great value to the writer of this paper. 



168 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



Church was finally housed safely in the garret of Dr. 
Long's brick building, where we worshipped several 
years. The Kev. Mr. Bradstreet was the minister dur- 
ing the last of the twenties, a plain, faithful, untiring 
pastor, serving us for the small compensation of one 
hundred dollars ($100), ekeing it out by labor with his 
own hands. He was ably assisted by Elisha Taylor, 
a merchant here, also by Deacon Hamlen, who was a 
dryed-in-the-wool Presbyterian, ready for any service. 
His duties were rather arduous, such as building fires, 
lighting the numerous tallow-candles, which hung in 
high back tin candle-sticks upon the walls. These, 
of course, required frequent snuffing, some of which 
were often snuffed out, leaving greater darkness until 
relighted from the one in the lantern. Matches were 
not then in use. Deacon Hamlen was a good singer 
and always led the congregation. He would also read 
a sermon when necessary. 

There is the odor of a liberal non-sectarianism in 
early Cleveland, in this passing incident from our his- 
torian, that "Deacon Moses" White, a staunch Baptist, 
regularly met with us and seemed to enjoy all that 
was good in our Presbyterian doctrine. 

About this time, our record runs, "the family of 
Severances came, and were a great addition to the 
church both in a religious and a musical way. The 
mention of this name will stir a fragrant memory of 
one whose melodious voice, in by-gone days, often 
joined in our worship and who sleeps now in a 
stranger's grave beyond the sea. It will be recalled 
that Mr. John Severance, uncle of our fellow-towns- 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



169 



men Solon and Louis Severance, while traveling 
abroad in search of health, died in England and was 
buried in Southampton. 

It is farther related that the familiar hymn begin- 
ning "From Greenland's Icy Mountains," was heard 
for the first time in Cleveland when sung in the First 
Presbyterian Church on the occasion of a missionary 
sermon preached by the Rev. Mr. Barr, a brother of 
the late John Barr, Esq., a well-known lawyer of this 
city. The effect of this hymn was most potent, and 
aroused a zeal in missionary effort which resulted ulti- 
mately in the sending out of two missionaries — the 
Rev. Mr. Castle to the Sandwich Islands, and Miss 
Yan Tine, who married Mr. Adams and went to South 
Africa. 

We make brief note of the fact that in October, 
1827, Mr. Benjamin Rouse — of honored memory — 
with his wife, came from New York to Cleveland as 
agent of the American Sunday School Union. He 
was instrumental at length in gathering the Baptists 
into a church of their own faith. 

A Sunday School, organized in 1819 by Rev. Mr. 
Osgood with six teachers and twenty scholars, had 
reached, in its wanderings, the upper story of Dr. 
Long's building and was attended by all the children 
in town. Mr. and Mrs. Rouse at first entered into the 
work of this school and infused new life, but later 
organized the Trinity Sunday School (1830); the First 
Baptist and the First Methodist (1833). Mr. Rouse 
was a man of enthusiasm and personal magnetism. 
He was a fine singer and brought with him all the new 



170 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



methods of the Eastern schools. Watt's Hymns were 
used altogether. 

Music now became a conspicuous factor in church 
worship as well as in Sunday School work. The ad- 
vent of Mr. T. P. Handy, in his vigorous and musical 
manhood, with his sweet-voiced young wife, gave a 
fresh impulse to our church music. Anthems were 
then introduced. At the dedication of the original 
stone edifice, the choir, we are told, rendered the open- 
ing anthem with thrilling effect. Mr. Tuttle was 
choir-master. Mr. and Mrs. Handy, with a full chorus 
of voices, occupied the singers' seats. Mrs. Tuttle 
sat in the audience, two or three seats from the pul- 
pit. In those days the audience stood during siuging, 
facing the gallery. "Lift up your heads, Oh ye 
gates, And be ye lifted up ye everlasting doors, And 
the King of Glory shall come in !" rolled down in 
full, rich melody from the gallery. A clear, sweet 
voice rose from the audience, like the song of a lark, 
in musical respose : "Who is this King of Glory!" 
And the gallery made answer : "The Lord, strong 
and mighty in battle ! Lift up your heads, Oh ye 
gates, Even lift them up ye everlasting doors, And 
the King of glory shall come in!" Again rose from 
below : "Who is this King of Glory ?" And then, 
with a burst of music, the choir took up the refrain : 
"The Lord of Hosts! He is the King of Glory !" 

Our chronicler tells us that Mr. Handy inaugur- 
ated the system of quarterly examinations in our Sun- 
day School, and that at these public exhibitions reci- 
tations were a feature of the programme. Among the 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



171 



bright young elocutionists of that day, our fellow - 
townsman, Judge Douglas Cleveland shone con- 
spicuous. 

It would be interesting to compare the Then and 
Now of the interior of the Stone Church. Not all of 
you can recall the high-back pews with panelled doors 
that fastened inside with wooden buttons. These but- 
tons once turned, the owner-occupants were in their 
own domains, and free to extend or withhold Chris- 
tian hospitality. 

Under the pastorate of the Rev. John Keep, who 
preceded the Rev. Dr. Aiken by a few years, the 
membership of the church rapidly increased. On one 
occasion, when before the Communion, candidates for 
admission were requested to come forward, three of 
the then prominent business men of the town pre- 
sented themselves; neither knew of the other's inten- 
tion. They were Dr. Long, Mr. John Blair and Mr. 
Ashbel Walworth. The latter turned and shook hands 
with each of the others, as if in cordial recognition of 
a sacred brotherhood. 

In 1839, the Rev. Mr. Avery, labored as an evan- 
gelist among this people and many were added to the 
church. Like an echo from those days are the strains 
of that familiar hymn sung by him so impressively 
and persuasively : 

"Come humble sinner in whose breast 

A thousand thoughts revolve, 
Come with your guilt and sin oppressed, 

And make this last resolve." 



172 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



And the memory of his young wife comes to us, 
a sweet singer in Israel, who ably assisted her zealous 
husband. Especially will Mrs. Avery be remembered 
as early identified with the "Female Prayer Meeting," 
first held in the frame house next the church, where 
the Lyceum theatre now stands. 

That "Female Prayer Meeting" was the Mercy 
Seat where our mothers interceded for us. A host of 
tender memories are awakened by its recall ! Who 
of us who share the inheritance of those early pray- 
ers can ever question or decry the faith that inspired 
them? 

Oh ! Mothers of the Old Stone Church, we bow 
our reverent heads, and solemnly renew our vows to 
the God to whom you prayed. 

During the long pastorate of the Rev. Dr. Aiken 
this church outgrew its primitive conditions, taking its 
place among the masterful influences of the country. 
It would be a grateful duty, did time permit, to 
recount the developing and out-reaching interests 
which enlisted the zealous effort of this congregation 
under his direction — to people this church once more 
with the men and women, who, in the faithful service 
of their efficient years, held up the arms of their high 
priest — a man, who in his intellectual supremacy and 
earnest life, ranked among the foremost preachers of 
his time. 

In this retrospect come to us visions of busy 
gatherings in the church parlors, of the Ladies' Society, 
one of the conspicuously useful outgrowths of that 
period. How heartily those dear women worked in 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



173 



the forwarding of their pastor's schemes of benevo- 
lence ! One of the sweet memories of this epoch is 
the affectionate relation between pastor and people — 
the admiration of and the unquestioning loyalty to the 
minister. Who thought, in those days, of pulpit here- 
sies? We seem to see again that venerable and stately 
man moving slowly up the aisle, with the conscious 
dignity of his sacred office. 

Apropos of the declining years of Dr. Aiken, a 
pathetic incident is recalled revealing the sensitive 
and child-like nature hidden under his solemn and 
somewhat awe-inspiring exterior. He had announced 
from the pulpit his purpose to resign because of 
enfeebled health. The congregation were unprepared 
for the inevitable crisis. The local papers made note 
of the incident, and in one of them appeared a ryth- 
mical protest. We doubt if the author of that remon- 
strance ever received more signal or gratifying tribute, 
than when on the following day, the familiar white 
horse of Dr. Aiken stood at her gate, and the dear old 
man, carrying awkwardly, as though unused to such 
service, a pot of pink hyacinths, begged her accept- 
ance of the gift, and still further electrified her by 
inviting her to a seat in his carriage. "Do you think," 
he asked on that well-remembered drive, with an 
earnest simplicity that betrayed his yearning for 
re-assurance, "do you think that those verses in last 
evening's paper, represent the feeling and wishes of 
the congregation?" 

The resignation was delayed, but the time was not 



174 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



far off when Rev. Dr. Goodrich assumed the responsi- 
bilities and the care of this pastorate. 

We may not stay even to speak the many names 
held in grateful remembrance, of those who in Dr. 
Aiken's time "set forward the work of this house of 
the Lord." We give place to but one — that of Mr. 
DeWitt, who for many years "pitched" our tunes, and 
whose rich voice, sometimes from the aisle and some- 
times from the gallery in the remote end of the 
church, opposite the pulpit, was like a signal from 
some answering watch-tower. 

Lovingly and tearfully we gather up the hopes 
and memories of the years in which Dr. Goodrich 
went in and out before us, the very idol of this people. 
In the prime of his mature manhood, his genial, sym- 
pathetic nature at once adjusted itself to the varied 
conditions of his charge. He guided and developed 
our abilities. He had the happy faculty of putting 
every one on duty. Social, literary and philanthropic 
organizations were formed. Our young men were 
appointed to the gracious and hospitable duty of 
church ushers; (was there on his part, a subtile pur- 
pose to secure regular attendance on Sunday service ?) 
our young women were invested with the responsi- 
bility of furnishing flowers for the church, and in 
various w&ys of m along their accomplishments and 
diversions tributary to church work. Dr. Goodrich's 
love of flowers and of nature was a marked character- 
istic. "The white chrysanthemum is my favorite," he 
said to one of his congregation, as he passed down the 
aisle after a morning service with a bunch of the pure 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



175 



blossoms in his hand; "I love them because they bloom 
so bravely, even after the snow comes." Ever since, 
the white chrysanthemum has been a memorial flower 
to the friend who recalls the incident. It was from 
the depths of his own mind that he seemed to draw 
an inspiration that lifted him above the ordinary level. 
Closely associated with Dr. Goodrich, in our memory, 
is the name of Mr. George H. Ely, whose more recent 
death has brought sorrow to this people and commun- 
ity, and filled it with a sense of irreparable loss. Of 
none was it ever more truly written, "His heart was 
rich, of such fine mould, that if you sowed therein the 
seed of hate, it blossomed charity." 

It was in 1872 that our present pastor, Dr. Haydn, 
entered this pulpit as the assistant of Dr. Goodrich, 
whose overtaxed energies made a season of rest 
imperative. It was in 1874 that the shadow of Dr. 
Goodrich's death fell upon this church. Of Dr. 
Haydn's taking up of the work, we may fittingly 
quote from a former record: "Coming by direct 
Providence into the place, which was not surely of his 
own seeking, he received the sacred trust in no spirit 
of self-sufficiency, but as one who should say, 'neces- 
sity is laid upon me.' He shared our sorrow, and he 
carried the burdens of the many." The years of his 
long and prosperous pastorate have but cemented the 
tie between pastor and people, and we may truly say 
that through the seventy-five years this church has 
known no more progressive period. We were about 
to write that these later decades are the epoch of the 
activities and zealous aims of Miss Sarah Fitch, but 



176 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



who shall set the bounds to her work and influence ? 
Noble, self-forgetting woman, thy consecrated life 
should have its own memorial ! Side by side, with the 
tablets which perpetuate the memory of our beloved 
pastors, write, in letters of gold, the name of their 
hand-maiden, than whom none ever achieved a grander 
immortality ! She wrought, not for this church alone, 
but for humanity, and for all time ! 

When the one-hundredth anniversary of Cleve- 
land's first Christian organization shall be celebrated 
by our children, may they gather as we do today 
within the gray walls of the Old Stone Church. 



Rev. Chauncey L. Hamlen, a son of this church, 
writes a letter which may fittingly supplement these 
gleanings from other days: 

"I have just received the invitation to be present 
at the seventy-fifth anniversary of the First Presby- 
terian Church of Cleveland. While I must send my 
own regrets, I cannot refrain from writing an additional 
line for my parents' sake. When I remember that my 
father was one of the original founders and an honored 
officer, for so many years, of this Church, and that my 
parents' home was so long the 'minister's home,' in 
those early days of Cleveland, this line is due them. 

I remember the venerable Dr. Aiken saying, at the 
funeral of my father, almost his last public words: 
'The time was if anyone wanted to know of the reli- 
gious and church life of Cleveland, they must go to 
the home of Deacon Hamlen.' 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



177 



My father's services antedated any house of worship. 
I have heard him tell so often of wheeling the wood over 
to the old Academy on a barrow, sweeping the room and 
ringing the triangle for service, and then carrying 
home the only Sabbath School library of Cleveland in 
a half-bushel basket on his arm. While my mother's 
stories, as she told of Christmas gatherings and Christ- 
mas wreaths, the marriages and greetings of brides 
from the East, in all their quaint costumes and shy 
ways, were always like fairy stories to us children. 
The names of Long and Weddell and Perry and others 
honored among the fathers of Cleveland, often mingled 
in her stories. She never lost her attachment to the 
Home Missionaries of the early days. Her loving 
services to Rev. Bradstreet and his fair wife from the 
East, unused to the privations of pioneer life, would 
always bring tears to her eyes. 

My own memory carries me back to the first stone 
edifice, with its deep well hole in front and its high, 
rounding steps, up which it was the delight of children 
to scamper. But, dear Brother, those early days are 
past. The fathers' work is done, and they have 
entered in. We are all but links in that endless chain 
that is to bring us at last to the General Assembly and 
Church of the first born in Heaven. God bless you in 
this anniversary." 



12 



178 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



OUR SPIRITUAL LEADERS- 

HON. RICHARD C. PARSONS. 

To write a history of the eminent men who have 
been pastors of the Stone Church during its existence — 
glance at the work they accomplished, and do justice 
to their memory, within the space of twenty minutes, 
is a task I wish had been placed in other hands. We 
can only take a passing look at each, and pay our 
tribute of affection to their self-sacrificing noble lives, 
believing that those who ceased from their labors, hav- 
ing done God's work faithfully on earth, have heard 
the welcome voice saying: "Well done, good and 
faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." 

The office of a minister of the gospel is the most 
sacred profession a human being can embrace. For 
he is an ambassador of the Most High — the represen- 
tative of Christ his Master to a world of sin, misery 
and death. The ambassador of a nation is clothed 
with dignity and power. For the time he represents 
the majesty of royalty, or the people of a republic 
like our own. His person is secure. Whenever his 
flag floats over his dwelling, he is the supreme master 
owing no allegiance to any government but his own; 
and when he speaks, his voice is the voice of his nation. 
The office of ambassador is one of the highest to which 
men aspire; and in the earlier days of civilization it 
was always surrounded with pomp, splendor and 
parade. 



PASTORS OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 





Samuel C. Aiken, D.D. 



Wm. H. Goodrich, D.D. 





Arthur Mitchell, D.D. 



Hiram C. Haydn, D.D. 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



179 



The Bible which is given to every minister of 
Heaven is his code of instructions. The message he 
has to deliver to mankind is found in that book. 
The lines of his mission are clearly defined, and the 
rules for his government written by an unerring hand. 
His work is before him. He can go confidently for- 
ward, secure in the knowledge that no change will be 
made in the sublime text of his instructions; and that 
his duties end only with his life. 

A true minister has before him a mighty work. 
How inspiring his calling. He is to teach mankind 
that God is love — that he hates sin, but loves the sin- 
ner — that he gave his only son to die upon the cross, 
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but 
have everlasting life. He is to preach the beauty of 
holiness, to urge sinners to repentance, to point man- 
kind the way of happiness in this life, and the enjoy- 
ment of heaven hereafter. He is to help the weak, 
raise the fallen, comfort the sorrowing, soothe the 
sick, awaken men's hearts to the duties of benevolence 
and charity, enlighten their minds, elevate their affec- 
tions, rebuke pride and arrogance, and with all his 
gifts of learning, eloquence and speech, tell the story 
of the cross and the plan of salvation. His mission is 
love. Love! the most powerful influence that con- 
trols mankind. Love, without which the world 
would only be the abode of cruelty and crime. Love, 
that shines with equal fervor in the palace of the great, 
and the home of the poor. Love, that kindles every 
virtue — that binds in chords of sweetest affection, 
husband and wife, parent and child, sister and brother 



180 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



which robes the world with the beauty of friendship! 
Love, which refines, elevates, glorifies the heart; love 
the only power that can destroy hatred, malice and 
revenge; cleanse the soul from sin and wickedness, 
and bear it safe, ransomed and redeemed to an immor- 
tality of happiness, in a paradise where love only is 
supreme. 

The bible is full of promises to the ambassador of 
Christ. His reward is to be great and for him are the 
high places in the Heavenly Kingdom. Among the 
celestial mansions his will glow with unusual radiance. 
"For then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun 
in the kingdom of their father.'" 

"The path of the just is as the shining light which 
shineth more and more unto the perfect day." 

"And they that be wise shall shine as the bright- 
ness of the firmament; and they that turn many to 
righteousness as the stars forever and ever." 

The Stone Church Society was organized in 1820, 
but the church edifice was not completed until 1835. 
The first settled pastor was the Rev. Samuel C. 
Aiken, D. D., a name to be held in grateful memory 
by every member of this church. Doctor Aiken was 
born at Windham, Vermont, September 21, 1790, and 
died January 1st, 1879, aged 88 years. He graduated 
at Middlebury College, a member of that remarkable 
class of 1817, of which Justice Nelson of the Supreme 
Court of the United States, Silas Wright, Senator and 
Governor of New York, were members. He studied 
theology at Andover, and in 1818 was installed pastor 
of the First Presbyterian Church at Utica, where he 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



181 



remained 18 years. He became the pastor of this 
church in 1835, in the prime of a vigorous manhood 
at the age of 45 years, and was the active head of the 
church for 24 years, when Dr. William H. Goodrich 
became his associate. 

When Dr. Aiken came to this church it was weak 
in numbers, poor in purse, and the religious spirit 
pretty much at low water mark in Cleveland. The 
city was small and new, having as late as 1820 but 150 
inhabitants, and in 1835 only 5,080 souls. Dr. Aiken 
was singularly fitted to gain public trust and confi- 
dence. His experience was mature. His sincerity 
manifest. Of imposing, dignified person, strong head, 
most winning countenance, a face beaming with good- 
ness and refinement, he won his way from the outset 
in the confidence and hearts of the people, and at 
once became the most prominent and influential of 
our citizens. Everybody learned to trust and honor 
him. In morals, temperance, education, and religion 
he was ever the leader. Under his care the church 
rapidly increased in numbers and power, so that after 
ten years of the services of Dr. Aiken, the church was 
found too small for its congregation; and another 
edifice had to be erected to provide for the pressing 
needs of the people. 

Dr. Aiken educated Cleveland. No man in the 
early history of our city did so much as he in forming 
the sentiments of our citizens in favor of temperance 
and piety. To him at the time of his death the city 
owed a debt of the gravest obligation. He had been 
the friend and counselor of all. His talents, simple 



182 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



address, affectionate manly temperament, guileless 
life, and powerful preaching, won for him a lively 
interest in the hearts of men. He gathered around 
him the best and most useful members of the com- 
munity, and with their aid, pushed forward his plans 
of benevolence, education and religion. 

As a preacher Dr. Aiken was calm, conservative, 
and somewhat slow in speech. When specially 
roused to grapple with some great subject, his manner 
was impressive — at times commanding. His fine per- 
son, simple manner, plain speech, great earnestness, 
and profound sincerity, always secured the most respect- 
ful attention. 

The period from 1835 to 1860 covered the great 
anti-slavery trouble in the United States. But for the 
conservative, wise, judicious course of Dr. Aiken, and 
the confidence his exalted character inspired in the 
minds of his people, the church would have been 
shattered to atoms. 

He was literally the father of his people. Few 
men were ever more warmly beloved. He married and 
blessed the young men and maidens, was a ministering 
spirit at the bedside of the suffering and dying; and 
with words of sympathy and prayer buried the dead, 
and whispered words of consolation to the bereaved. 

When this patriarch died he had reached the great 
age of 88 years. At his funeral were gathered the 
surviving members of his church that welcomed him 
here in 1835, their children and grandchildren. They 
came to pay the last services of love to the grand old 
christian hero, and saintly gentleman. For like Enoch, 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



183 



"he walked with God." Age had rendered hini help- 
less as a little child. He had survived Dearly all the 
members of his family and kindred, and eagerly looked 
forward to the better country as his final home. 
Truly he had fought the good fight, he had kept the 
faith. 

"How beautiful it is for a man to die upon the 
walls of Zion! to be called like a watch worn and 
weary sentinel, to put his armor off, and rest in 
heaven." 

The mantle of Elijah fell upon Elisha. In 1859 
Rev. William Henry Goodrich became associate pastor 
of the Stone Church, and soon after sole pastor in 
active service. He was born in New Haven, January 
19, 1823. His father was a distinguished author and 
professor. He was a grandson of Noah Webster, and 
on both sides his ancestry was of the best New Eng- 
land character. He graduated at Yale College in 
1843, and came to Cleveland in 1859. 

There was something in the character and per- 
sonality of Dr. Goodrich that at once attracted confi- 
dence and regard. Every one felt that he had found 
a friend, everybody trusted him because honesty and 
sympathy seemed ingrained in his nature. His 
gracious manner, pleasing voice, comparative youth, 
and charming presence made him the idol of the 
young; while his practical wisdom, broad culture, 
sincere piety and zeal for religion won the hearts of 
the older. He soon knew every member of his church 
and much of their history. In every household he 
was a welcome guest. For twelve years he preached 



184 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



in this church and was trusted and loved by all, for he 
had become the personal friend of all. Where the 
hand of kindness was needed, there it was. If charity 
was needed it came in bountiful supply. If sympathy 
was required he was at once the brother or friend. 
So wise and discreet was he in regard to the benevo- 
lent work of the church, that many of his congrega- 
tion gave him privately large sums to distribute, feel- 
ing assured his judgment was better than their own. 

He was the loyal descendant of Revolutionary 
Sires. Everybody who heard the sermon of Dr. 
Goodrich, as the echoes of the cannon fired upon Fort 
Sumpter were sounding in the air, will recall his 
glowing patriotism, his sublime love of country and 
that earnest zeal for the cause of freedom, which knew 
no rest or satisfaction until victory rested upon the 
banner of the Republic. 

As a preacher Dr. Goodrich was instructive and 
persuasive. He wrote with grace and finish, but 
never made any attempt at eloquence or display. He 
was as modest as he was sincere. It is not putting it 
too strongly to say that from the time of his coming 
to this church until his death he had the hearts of his 
people. Whatever he did seemed good in their sight. 
In 1872 his health became impaired, and with his 
family he went abroad, hoping rest and travel would 
restore him. But it was not to be. His useful, hon- 
orable life closed at Lausanne, July 11, 1872. He 
was a true knight — a faithful ambassador, a soldier 
without fear and without reproach. The aroma of his 
memory still fills the church with fragrance. 



STONE CHUKCH ANNALS. 



185 



When Dr. Goodrich went to Europe in 1872, he 
left the Church in charge of Rev. Hiram C. Haydn as 
Associate Pastor. Upon the death of Dr. Goodrich, 
Mr. Haydn became sole Pastor, entering upon a 
term of service, which, with a brief interruption, 
has continued until the present day. His long 
connection with this church, his identification with 
every part of its work, his services in the cause of edu- 
cation, morality and religion, and influence upon 
public affairs, we will say a word about hereafter, so 
far as it is possible to speak in the presence of Dr. 
Haydn himself. 

In 1880, Dr. Haydn concluded to seek some relief 
from pastoral labors, and accepted the Secretaryship of 
the American Board of Foreign Missions in New York. 
The Rev. Arthur Mitchell was installed as his successor. 
Dr. Mitchell was born in Hudson, N. Y., August 13, 
1835. He was graduated from Williams College in 
1853, and from Union Seminary in 1859. He had 
been a successful preacher 21 years when he came to 
this church. He was an old-fashioned pulpit speaker, 
of wide intelligence, learning and culture. He was 
slight and delicate in person, guileless in manner, 
gracious in disposition, and his social qualities were of 
a high order. He was specially a Bible scholar, but 
few men had more general knowledge of all subjects 
of public interest. He was a master of the geography 
of the world, and in the domain of history his knowl- 
edge was broad and familiar. He was largely a 
statesman as well as a preacher. He died while Secre- 
tary of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, in 



186 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



New York, and it was said of him, before his death, that 
he knew more about foreign missions, and more of the 
missionaries than any person then living. 

But what made Dr. Mitchell a marked man, that 
seemed to create a special atmosphere of purity about 
him, was the transparent goodness of his nature. 
Devotion and dedication were written upon his coun- 
tenance. With him religion was a reality, and he 
gloried in its power to save. For him death had no 
sting, the grave no terrors. Beyond them he saw "the 
resurrection and the life." 

Dr. Mitchell entered actively into the work of the 
Church, giving every moment of his time to promote 
its interests. But the Church did not thrive under his 
hands as he desired, and he was too wise a teacher 
and Pastor to blind himself to the fact. It became in 
time evident to him, that if the Church was to be 
maintained as a powerful factor in the religious world, 
it should have for its Pastor some one clearly identi- 
fied with its history, bound to it by ties of long friend- 
ship and association, one who could exercise a wider 
influence upon individual members, than any compara- 
tive stranger could dp. Hence, after a ministry of 
four years, Dr. Mitchell resigned his place, carrying 
with him the most devoted regard of the entire con- 
gregation. He died in 1893, after visiting, personally, 
nearly all the leading mission fields of the world, just 
as such a man would die, loving and trustful. His 
faith never wavered. His end was peace. It can truly 
be said of him, as of Charles Kingsley: He was one 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



187 



"Who loved God and truth above all things, 
Loyal and chivalrous, gentle and strong, 
Modest and humble, tender and true ; 
Who lived in the presence of God here, 
And passing through the gates of death, 
Now liveth with God forever more. ' ' 

Upon the resignation of Dr. Mitchell, Dr. Haydn 
was unanimously requested by the congregation to 
return here and resume his active labors as head of 
this Church, which call he accepted. It will be seen 
that save the four years in which Dr. Mitchell occu- 
pied the pulpit, Dr. Haydn has been pastor of this 
church for 23 years. 

Dr. Haydn was born at Pompey, New York, in 
1831, graduated at Amherst College in 1856, and at 
Union Seminary in 1859. In his presence it is impos- 
sible to speak of his personal qualities, describe his 
gifts as pastor or orator, analyze his character, or 
write the story of his virtues and christian life. But 
we can assure him of the sincere love and abiding 
affection of his people, and express the hope that the 
tie which binds our hearts to his own, may not be 
severed until the final call shall come to him to join the 
great congregation in the heavenly Kingdom. 

It would be doing Dr. Haydn great injustice if we 
failed to speak of the results accomplished during his 
term of service here. These are legitimate subjects of 
examination and commendation. For we can say, "Si 
monumentum quaeris, circumspice." "If you would 
see his monument look around you." Under his 
guiding hand have been erected various beautiful and 
costly churches in our city, a college for women, and 



188 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



in great part a thriving, noble university of learning 
— schools, hospitals, Christian associations, boys' clubs, 
kindergartens and societies to encourage temperance 
have been established. There is not a mission field in 
all the world, where the name of Dr. Haydn is not 
known and honored. In every cause where a cham- 
pion was needed to help purify public sentiment- 
denounce immorality, elevate public morals, provide 
for the poor, help the fallen, and stand forward in 
every work of charity and benevolence, Dr. Haydn 
has helped to build his monument. 

In looking back over the work accomplished by 
the Stone Church during the last seventy-five years, 
under the leadership of these godly men, we are 
amazed at its far reaching influence for good. To this 
community it has been the great leader in the cause of 
good morals; a cloud by day, a pillar of fire by night. 
During all this period it has kept the banner of the 
cross floating triumphantly in the field, under which it 
has fought and won splendid victories for Christ and 
His Kingdom. Through its influence thousands have 
been rescued from sin and destruction — homes have 
been beautified by religion, millions given to advance 
the cause of education, society refined, elevated and 
quickened in every good word and work, the heathen 
and the missionary in far off lands strengthened and 
encouraged, and Heaven itself has been enriched with 
her devoted children. 

It is impossible for me to do more than name those 
pioneer preachers, Rev. Messrs. Stone, McLean, Brad- 
street, Sessions, Hatchings, Keep, who ministered so 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



189 



faithfully to this Church from 1820 to 1835. They 
were Gospel ministers, earnest, devoted, self-sacrific- 
ing, worthy ambassadors of the great King. 

The Associate Pastors since 1880, Rev. Messrs. 
Ogden, Simpson, Smith, Dunning, Selden, Howard, 
Knight, George, Zelie, are all living, and earnestly 
engaged as pastors of other churches in the work of 
their lives. We owe them a grateful debt of remem- 
brance. Our friend, Rev. Mr. Jackson, is still with us. 

History demonstrates this great truth, "that reli- 
gion is the only stable basis on which a commonwealth 
can be reared." It has been wisely said "that no 
amount of wealth, no extent of culture, has ever given 
a nation strength and stability, when the religious ele- 
ment has been in decay." No godless nation ever 
survived. 

Cleveland is in a few months to celebrate the 100th 
anniversary of its existence. A century ago and the 
place where we stand was a primeval wilderness. At 
this moment the city is a thriving, growing, influential 
municipality; the home of hundreds of thousands of 
people. It may, in respect for law, order, temperance, 
morality and education, claim equal rank with any of 
its sister cities. 

But the debt Cleveland owes to religion cannot be 
computed. It is religion that founded her unrivalled 
schools, built her beautiful churches, erected her noble 
seats of learning, and made so large a share of her 
people temperate, moral, cultivated and happy. 

We celebrate tonight the 75th anniversary of this 
Church. Thank God she is still in the vigor of a 



190 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



healthful, mature age, and as useful, as necessary, 
influential and powerful for good, as at any time in her 
history. 

As we look down the long aisles, we miss the elder 
children of the church who formerly crowded these 
pews. One by one they have disappeared, and we 
shall see them here no more. As we recall their faces 
and their useful lives, we realize with bitter regret 
the brevity and uncertainty of human life. We only 
appear on earth to stay a little while, make a few 
friends, strive to do our narrow round of duty, when 
Ave are called away, our work all incomplete, and some 
fresher traveler takes our place. But this is our trust, 
"The word of the Lord endureth forever." Religion 
is as living and true this day, as when the Pilgrims 
prayed on the bleak shores of New England, or the 
Shepherds sang their songs on the plains of Bethlehem. 

So let us all unite in that beautiful prayer of the 
collect: "When we shall have served Thee in our 
generation, we may be gathered unto our fathers, hav- 
ing the testimony of a good conscience, in the com- 
munion of the Catholic church, in the confidence of a 
certain faith — in the comfort of a reasonable, religious 
and holy hope, in favor, with Thee our God, and in 
perfect charity with the world. All of which we ask 
through Jesus Christ our Lord." 



ASSOCIATE AND ASSISTANT PASTORS. 




I. Rev. Aaron Peck. 2. Mr. B. F. Shuart. 3. Rev. J. W. Simpson. 

4. Rev. Rollo Ogden. 5. Rev. Jos. H. Selden. 6. Rev. Wilton M. Smith. 

7. Rev. Giles H. Dunning. 8. Rev. Burt E. Howard. 9. Rev. William Knight. 

10. Rev. R. A. George. I I. Rev. John S. Zelie. 12. Rev. F. W. Jackson. 



STONE CHUKCH ANNALS. 



191 



Men of Mark in the Church and 
Society, 

HON. SAMUEL E. WILLIAMSON. 



When I was asked to prepare an address on Men 
of Mark in the Church and Society which should 
occupy fifteen or twenty minutes, I could think only 
of that outburst of St. Paul at the end of his futile 
attempt to catalogue the witnesses to the faith : "For 
the time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Sam- 
son, Jephthah ; of David and Samuel and the proph- 
ets ; who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought 
righteousness, obtained promises." 

My task is especially difficult, because any list of 
prominent men would be sadly incomplete if it did 
not include those whom we call early settlers. Yet 
almost all who emigrated from the Eastern States 
before the days of railroads and canals were neces- 
sarily men of mark. The others stayed at home. 
One who finds the name of an ancestor enrolled among 
the early members of the First Presbyterian Church 
or Society need seek no further for proof that he was 
not an ordinary man. Some of them were very eccen- 
tric. Doubtless, some had defects of character which 
are not mentioned in their biographies. Perhaps their 
very faults made some of them conspicuous ; but, 
whatever else they were, they were ^certainly men of 
mark. A few words, therefore, must suffice for the 



192 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



most distinguished, while time forbids even the men- 
tion of many who have been honored on earth and in 
heaven ; and the living must be left for the most part 
to speak for themselves. 

Twenty-eight persons were named by the Charter 
as constituting the First Presbyterian Society, and 
nearly every name illustrates the truth of what has 
been said. 

Samuel Cowles was the first President of the 
Society. He was a lawyer, and, like so many of the 
early settlers of the Western Keserve, a native of Con- 
necticut. He was graduated from Williams College, 
and came to Cleveland in 1819. He was slow and 
cautious, and the title of "Father Cowles," which was 
sometimes given to him, was not intended to be 
entirely complimentary, but his safe counsel and per- 
fect reliability led to a lucrative practice, and at the 
time of his death he was a Judge of the Court of 
Common Pleas. 

Perhaps the best proof of the confidence that was 
reposed in him is the fact that the land on which the 
main part of this church is built was conveyed to him, 
and still stands on the public records in his name. 

For the first six years of the Society's existence, 
Peter M. Weddell was its Treasurer. He was a Penn- 
sylvanian by birth, and a successful merchant before 
he came to Cleveland in 1820. His prosperity con- 
tinued, and like Leonard Case and Nathan Perry, he 
showed his foresight by investing his means largely in 
land to which only a vast increase in population could 
give any great value. The house and store which he 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



193 



built in 1823 on the corner of Superior and Bank 
streets was torn down in 1845 to make room for the 
hotel which bears his name, and has so many historic 
associations. It is said that he was especially helpful 
to young business men, and that many prominent 
merchants owe their success largely to his assistance. 
He must have been among the first citizens of Cleve- 
land to make any considerable bequest to Home and 
Foreign Missions. 

Among the first trustees of the Society were David 
Long, Ashbel W. Walworth and Samuel Williamson. 

Dr. Long was the first physician who settled in 
Cleveland. Who that has witnessed the beautiful life 
of his daughter, Mrs. Mary H. Severance, will doubt 
that his devoted professional service and public spirit 
in the face of hardship, privation and danger, won the 
lasting honor and affection of the community? It 
was his vote as County Commissioner, which decided 
that Cleveland, instead of Newburgh, should be the 
county seat. He, with Nathan Perry and Samuel 
Williamson, were the first trustees of the village, but 
perhaps you will not think the honor very great when 
you learn that there were only twelve voters at the 
election, and nine of them were elected to office. 

A. W. Walworth was a native of Connecticut, and 
the son of Judge John Walworth, who brought his 
family to Cleveland in 1806. (Judge Walworth pur- 
chased a farm of three hundred acres, lying just south 
of Huron street, and extending from Erie street to 
the river. He held many public offices, and his son, 
Ashbel, assisted him in the discharge of his numerous 



13 



194 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



duties.) He succeeded his father as postmaster upon 
the death of the latter in 1812. He was collector of 
this port for seventeen years, and village treasurer for 
twelve years. He was also township clerk, justice of 
the peace, and member of the council. The shipping 
interests of Cleveland demanded a pier at the mouth 
of the river that should enable vessels to enter the 
port in safety. The needed money was secured from 
the Government with great difficulty, and largely 
through his efforts, and much, if not all of it, was 
spent under his direction. The inestimable value of 
this service thus rendered can be better appreciated 
now than ever before. He must have been a man of 
strong character and broad views, ready to serve his 
neighbors, and deeply interested in the prosperity of 
this city. 

Samuel Williamson — not he whom most of you 
knew, but his father — was born in Cumberland County, 
Pennsylvania, but had crossed the Allegheny Moun- 
tains when a boy. He came to Cleveland in 1810. 
His long service as Associate Judge of the Court of 
Common Pleas, shows the estimation in which he was 
held by the people of the county. His inheritance of 
Scotch-Irish Presbyterianism impelled him to take an 
active and earnest part in promoting the moral and 
intellectual welfare of the village. He was especially 
interested in the education of its youth, and gave the 
highest proof of it by having his own son prepared for 
the sophomore class in college as early as 1826. His 
name is the first in the charter of the Society and the 
first upon its records. 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



195 



It is a somewhat remarkable fact that but one of 
those who organized the Society was at that time a 
member of this church, although a number afterwards 
became such, and others may have been members of 
churches in the East. The efforts of such men to aid 
the church, and their sacrifices for it, show that they 
considered it vital to the welfare of the future city 
that its people should be a Christian people. Indeed, 
the motives by which they were guided are well and 
fully expressed in the preamble to the Constitutiou : 
"Whereas, morality is essential to a free government, 
and is the foundation of civil liberty and social happi- 
ness, and since genuine morality is the legitimate 
effect of the Christian Religion, and is best promoted 
by the preaching of the Gospel ; and especially since 
the preaching of the Gospel is the means which God 
has appointed for the salvation of his creatures, it be- 
comes the duty of all who love their country to lend 
their aid in supporting the institutions of Religion and 
maintaining the public and stated administration of 
truth, and since this object is better accomplished by 
the united and systematic exertions of well organized 
societies than by the occasional efforts of indi- 
viduals." 

One of the prominent members of the Church, 
who was also President of the Society for several 
years, was Zalmon Fitch. He was born in Connecti- 
cut in 1785, and came to the Western Reserve in 
1804, and was Cashier, and afterwards President of 
the Western Reserve Bank in Warren, which obtained 
a great reputation by continuing specie payments 



196 STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 

when the New York banks suspended in 1836. In 
1840, he was elected President of the Bank of Cleve- 
land, and settled in this city. He took an active part 
in the construction and management of the Cleveland 
& Pittsburgh Railroad, and was one of its directors. 
He was also land agent of members of the Connecti- 
cut Land Company, and thus became widely known 
to the early settlers of the Reserve, and greatly 
esteemed by them. Such a man was almost neces- 
sarily prospered in his own affairs, and enjoyed a 
deserved reputation for executive ability and strong 
character. 

Among those who filled a large place in the busi- 
ness world, have been James F. Clark, Amasa Stone, 
George Mygatt, George H. Ely and Truman P. 
Handy. The head and bearing of Mr. Clark were 
proof that he was an uncommon man. They would 
have invited remark and inquiry in any assembly. He 
was born in Cooperstown, N. Y., in 1807, and was an 
engraver in his earlier years. In 1833 he came to 
Cleveland and connected himself with this church in 
the following year. From 1860 until his death he was 
a trustee of the Society. Mr. Clark's rare business 
ability brought him great and speedy success. His 
aid was widely sought for great enterprises. He was 
a director and officer in several railroad companies, 
and especially was intimately associated with the 
Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad, and the develop- 
ment of its great coal trade. For many years he was 
also a director in the Merchants' National Bank. 
In all of these positions he performed distin- 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



197 



guished service. He was everywhere recognized as 
one of the foremost citizens of Cleveland, and com- 
manded universal respect and esteem. His large 
bequest to Oberlin College evidenced his deep interest 
in education, and his appreciation of the good work 
which that institution has done for the young men 
and women of Ohio. The people who worship here 
owe him and the other trustees of the Society a great 
debt for the painstaking care and personal liberality 
by which they enabled the Church to continue its use- 
fulness, without imposing any heavy financial burden 
upon the congregation. 

There has been no layman who better deserves to 
be held in grateful memory by the people of this 
Church than Amasa Stone. For over twenty-two 
years the weighty affairs, which pressed upon his 
attention, had to give way to the performance of his 
duty as a trustee of the Society. He found time to 
take the leading part in building this edifice, and to 
rebuild it after the fire. He valued most highly the 
maintenance of orderly and attractive public worship, 
and during his later years the music commanded as 
much attention from him as it could have received 
from any young man with nothing else to occupy his 
attention. The salient events of his life are well 
known, and time will not permit an enumeration of 
them. He came from New England with an established 
reputation for success in great enterprises. He and 
his partners built the railroad from Cleveland to 
Columbus. He was also connected with the construc- 
tion of the railroad to Erie, of which he took charge 



198 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



as Superintendent, and afterwards as President. Sub- 
sequently he had for a time the management of the 
Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad. These 
were but a few of the many important undertakings 
with which he was associated. But whoever looks at 
the beautiful window in the south end of the church 
will understand that it is not his remarkable success in 
business, but his noble charities which will perpetuate 
his name, and make future generations grateful for his 
life. He provided generously for the education and 
training of neglected children, and built a home for 
old ladies who might otherwise be homeless. But, 
most of all, he brought from Hudson to Cleveland a 
college, rich in traditions and learning but poor in 
the ability to provide for the rapidly growing demands 
upon institutions of learning, and endowed it so liber- 
ally that the young men of Ohio need not leave their 
own State to find the best instruction and the highest 
scholarship. Every year has added proof of Mr. 
Stone's wisdom in the removal and endowment of 
Adelbert College. May I not add without impro- 
priety, that but for him and the fortune which he and 
his family have administered, it would have been 
hardly possible to celebrate the seventy-fifth anniver- 
sary of the Church within these walls. 

It has always seemed to the present generation 
that George Mygatt was a large part of the First 
Presbyterian Church, and that he and the office of 
elder were intended for each other. It is certain that 
no one ever filled it more admirably, or performed its 
" duties more consistently. He was born in Connecti- 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



199 



cut in 1797, and his family came to Mahoning County 
in this State in 1807. He settled in Cleveland in 
1847, after having had considerable experience as a 
banker in Norwalk and Painesville. Here he pursued 
the same calling, partly as a private banker and partly 
as president and cashier of incorporated banks. He 
was cashier of the Merchants' National Bank during 
the depression which followed the panic of 1857. In 
1855 he was a member of the Legislature. It would 
be faint praise to say that he was noted for his integ- 
rity and faithfulness to duty. Every one knew him 
as a man whose whole life was controlled by the 
highest Christian principle. Every one knew him, 
too, as a pillar of this CJaurch. The promise to attend 
upon its ordinances was with him no idle pledge. If 
there can be sucb a person as a High Church Presby- 
terian, Mr. Mygatt came near to being one. He had 
comparatively little sympathy with most of the various 
reform organizations, because he believed that nearly 
every good end which they sought could be better 
reached through the Society which Christ had founded 
and called his Church. Is it sure that he was alto- 
gether wrong? 

The death of George H. Ely, and the tributes paid 
to his memory are so recent, that we hardly need to 
be reminded of the great service that he rendered his 
country and the church. Mr. Ely came to Cleveland 
to reside in 1863. He was then thirty-eight years old, 
and had been engaged in large business ventures in 
Rochester, where he was born. He was already inti- 
mately connected with the Lake Superior iron ore 



200 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



trade, and maintained the connection during the 
remainder of his life. He made a thorough study of 
the conditions necessary to its success, and was a clear, 
logical speaker. The natural result was that he became 
the spokesman for those engaged in the business on 
all occasions. The rate of duty to be imposed upon 
foreign ore was a matter so vital to the prosperity 
of the miners in the Lake Superior region, that 
Congress became the arena for constant contest 
between conflicting interests. There his thought, 
time and strength were spent year after year, in secur- 
ing legislation which he firmly believed to be de- 
manded by true patriotism, as well as by the needs of 
himself and his associates. It was while engaged in 
the performance of this duty that death overtook him. 
Mr. Ely was also State Senator from this county. 
Nearly all the prominent charitable organizations of 
the city sought his aid, and invited public confidence 
by inducing him to assume some responsibility for the 
execution of their trusts. He was President of Lake- 
side Hospital, and Trustee of Adelbert College and 
Western Reserve University. But this church is 
especially indebted to him for his long and devoted 
service as elder and trustee. 

I intimated at the beginning of this address that 
as far as possible I should avoid mention of the living, 
however distinguished, but there are exceptions to all 
rules, and a notable exception to this one is the man 
whose recollection extends over the whole period of 
this church's existence; whose fifty years' service as a 
banker in Cleveland was commemorated thirteen 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



201 



years ago ; who ^still walks with elastic step, and may 
be found every day at his desk, and who has to-day 
borne an important part in these anniversary services. 
Mr. Truman P. Handy came to Cleveland in March, 
1832. On the second of April following he became a 
member of the Society, and in the next October was 
elected a trustee. In the same year very character- 
istically he served as a member of a committee to 
procure funds to finish the house of worship. It need 
hardly be said that no layman was more active in 
church or society until he withdrew to become one of 
the founders of the Second Presbyterian Church. His 
life is still too closely interwoven with that of the city 
and its many enterprises and charities to permit us 
to forget what he has done for them, and what man- 
ner of man he has been and is. The whole country 
recognizes him as one of the most successful bankers, 
and as prominently connected with railroads and man- 
ufactures. It knows about his public spirit, how 
zealously he supported the war for the Union, and 
cared for the sick and wounded soldiers, how he has 
given his time and money to the cause of education 
in college and theological seminary, as well as among 
neglected children, and how large a share of his life 
has been devoted to the church and its missions; but 
only we who have enjoyed somewhat of his personal 
friendship know how very little any record of his 
achievements can tell of the good and the brightness 
that he has brought into the lives of three generations. 

In addition to Dr. Long, the church has enrolled 
among its members tw T o other men of mark who were 



202 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



physicians — John Delamater and Erastus Gushing; 
indeed, Dr. Delamater has a place in the history of his 
country. He was born in New York, near the 
boundary of Massachusetts. His ancestors were 
Huguenot exiles and Hollanders. He commenced the 
practice of medicine at the age of nineteen, and after 
a few years established himself in Berkshire County, 
Massachusetts. While he was professor in the Berk- 
shire Medical Institute, he acquired a wide reputation 
for ability as a lecturer. In 1827 he accepted a posi- 
tion in the faculty of a medical school in Herkimer 
County, N. Y., which was opened in that year by the 
Kegents of the State. He remained there eight years, 
and was recognized as one of the leaders in his pro- 
fession. A prominent physician in Boston, who was 
consulted by a gentleman in Utica, replied: "You 
have no need to write to me. You have Dr. Dela- 
mater near at hand, than whom there is no abler prac- 
titioner in the country." He removed from Herkimer 
County to Willoughby, and soon afterward, in 1842, 
to Cleveland. He seemed to prefer the frontier, and 
the plain life of new communities. Here he helped 
to organize the Cleveland Medical College, the Medi- 
cal Department of Western Reserve College, and lec- 
tured to its students regularly until 1860. It is said 
that he delivered at least seventy courses of lectures, 
treating all branches of medical science. While filling 
his professorship in Cleveland, he delivered full courses 
of lectures in Bowdoin and Dartmouth Colleges and 
in Geneva and Cincinnati. Dr. Goodrich preached a 
most appreciative sermon on the occasion of his 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



203 



funeral, from which I quote a few sentences in refer- 
ence to his manner of speech: "He spoke the pure 
Saxon of the common people, and never went about 
for a fine word. His style, whether in conversation 
or the lecture room, was as lucid as water, and the 
course of his thought equally so. As a means of con- 
veying knowledge, or of stating facts, the English 
language was probably never better used by any man 
of his time; few thought how well and clearly he was 
elucidating, but when he had finished, it was clear 
there was nothing more of importance to be said." 
I never saw him in court myself, but I have heard 
older lawyers say that as a medical witness he had no 
equal. He did not want to be questioned at length. 
He believed that truth and justice were the objects to 
be attained, and therefore took matters into his own 
hands, and made them so clear that it was useless to 
answer him. When he had finished, the court and 
jury were convinced. His whole life was characterized 
by strict integrity and conscientious devotion to duty. 
His generosity was extreme, and very detrimental to 
himself. His piety was practical, as well as sincere, 
and his whole conduct was regulated by his responsi- 
bility to his Maker, and his need of divine help. It 
was by his own profession that he was best appre- 
ciated, and few, if any, names hold a more prominent 
place in its annals than Dr. John Delamater. 

But Dr. Cushing was closer to many of us than 
Dr. Delamater. No physician of his time was a visitor 
in so many Cleveland homes. He was born in Berk- 
shire County, Massachusetts, in 1802, and located 



204 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



here in 1835. He acquired a large practice at once, 
and led an exceedingly active and laborious life until 
his retirement in 1872. During all this time he com- 
manded the absolute confidence of his patients. They 
trusted themselves and families to him with a feeling 
of satisfaction that by securing his care they had done 
the best thing possible, and that all that medical skill 
could suggest was at their service. For he was more 
than a physician. He was a true friend, proved in 
times of anxious and sometimes bitter trial. General 
esteem and affection followed him into retirement, and 
increased with every passing year, as old and young 
saw him growing more and more into the likeness of 
Him Avhom he loved and worshipped. 

No one profession can justly lay exclusive claim to 
Charles Whittlesey. He was born in Connecticut in 
1808. In 1827 he became a cadet at West Point, 
where he graduated in 1831. He remained in the 
army until the close of the Black Hawk war, when he 
resigned, and opened a law office in Cleveland, being 
at the same time part owner and one of the editors of 
the Whig and Herald. Subsequently, as assistant 
geologist of Ohio, he had much to do with disclosing 
the rich coal fields of Eastern Ohio. Perhaps no one 
did more than he in locating the iron and copper of 
the Lake Superior region. After serving for the first 
three months in the Civil War he was made Colonel 
of the 120th Regiment of Ohio Infantry. He partici- 
pated in the capture of Fort Donelson, and in the 
second day's battle of Shiloh, but after the latter 
battle bad health compelled his resignation. His geo- 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



205 



logical work seems to have led to antiquarian research. 
For fifty-three years he was a voluminous writer on 
geology, history, archaeology and religion. He was a 
leader in organizing the Western Reserve Historical 
Society, and its collections are largely a monument to 
him and Judge Charles C. Baldwin. He was pro- 
foundly religious, and believing that there was thor- 
ough harmony between revealed religion and science, 
he endeavored most earnestly to make it clear to 
others. At the time of his death the New York Herald 
said: "His contributions to literature have attracted 
wide attention among the scientific men of England 
and America." 

There have been a strikingly large number of 
prominent lawyers in the Stone Church congregation. 
One who obtained a wide reputation was Hiram V. 
Willson. He was born in 1808 in Madison County, 
New York, and was graduated from Hamilton College. 
He came to Cleveland in 1833, and with his dis- 
tinguished partners commanded a very extensive busi- 
ness. In 1854 President Pierce appointed him the 
first judge of the United States District Court for this 
district. He was called upon to decide some very 
important cases in connection with the growing busi- 
ness on the lakes, but his name will always be particu- 
larly associated with what are known as the Oberlin 
Rescue cases, in which professors in Oberlin College 
and others were charged with rescuing a slave. These 
cases occupy an important place in the history of the 
popular movement which resulted in the election of 
Lincoln to the Presidency. It was not a pleasant 



206 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



task to enforce the fugitive slave law in a Free Soil 
community, where the excitement was fanned on every 
occasion by speeches from the prisoners; but he pre- 
sided over the heated discussions of the trial with 
calmness and dignity, guiding the jury to the con- 
clusion which he believed to be demanded by the law. 
At his death the Bar gave his memory the richest 
praise that it can bestow, by pronouncing him a 
learned, upright and fearless judge. 

Samuel Starkweather was born in Pawtucket, Mass. 
He was graduated from Brown University in 1882 
with honor. He was admitted to the Bar about four 
years later, and came at once to Cleveland. While he 
was a prominent lawyer, he did not confine himself to 
the practice of his profession. He was one of the 
leaders of the Democratic party, and a warm sup- 
porter of Jackson and Van Buren. During both 
administrations he was collector of customs. He was 
elected Mayor of the city three times. He had a deep 
interest in the public schools, and the early establish- 
ment of the High School was due chiefly to him and 
Charles Bradburn. He was also the first judge of the 
Court of Common Pleas for this County under the 
present constitution. Judge Starkweather was noted 
for his conversational gifts; and his classical and 
literary scholarship, combined with eloquence, wit and 
humor, made him an effective speaker, and caused him 
to be called upon to express the popular feeling on 
such occasions as the reception of Kossuth, and the 
opening of the railroad to Columbus. I have heard 
some of his contemporaries say that in his prime he 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



207 



was acknowledged to be the wittiest member of the 
Bar. Judge Starkweather was one of the charter 
members of this Society, and served on the committee 
which prepared the plans for this building, and devised 
a method for securing the money needed to carry 
them oat. 

Among lawyers Sherlock J. Andrews was pre- 
eminent. He was a native of Connecticut, and a 
graduate of Union College. After assisting Prof. 
Silliman for a time in chemistry, he studied law, and 
in 1825 he came to Cleveland and was admitted to the 
Bar. He was judge of the Superior Court, a repre- 
sentative in Congress, and a member of two constitu- 
tional conventions. Bat no account of what Judge 
Andrews did can give any conception of what he was, 
or of the impress he made upon the people of this 
city. He was an able and accomplished lawyer in 
every respect. He was learned; he had a keen per- 
ception of right and wrong; he had the advantage of a 
liberal education, wide reading and perfect literary 
taste, and his judgment was quick and accurate. But 
while other lawyers were his rivals in many respects, 
his position as an advocate was unchallenged. Every 
weapon of the successful advocate was at his imme- 
diate command. Learning, wit, humor, pathos, sarcasm, 
invective, the voice of an orator and a face which 
revealed every emotion, the gift of eloquence and 
familiarity with the language of the Bible and Shake- 
speare, combined with a quick perception of the strong 
points of his case and the character and reliability of 
witnesses to make him well nigh invincible. A dis- 



208 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



languished lawyer confesses that on one occasion when 
he was opposed to Judge Andrews, he was so com- 
pletely carried away by the tide of his eloquence that 
he forgot his own part in the case, and had to be taken 
out of hearing before he was sufficiently relieved from 
the spell to reply. But it would be great injustice to 
his memory to leave the impression that his strength 
lay in any or all these things. It did not. It lay in 
his remarkable purity of character. Without this his 
weapons would have been shorn of half their power. 
He was not only pure himself, but seemed to create an 
atmosphere of purity wherever he appeared. Nothing 
in his career is more remarkable than his failure to 
arouse resentment in those who fell under his stinging 
rebuke, or to extort from them a malignant word. 
Why is it that those whom he denounced most severely 
were never vindictive ? I know of but one answer. It 
was because the}^ knew there was not a tinge of per- 
sonal bitterness in his rebuke; that he was exposing 
vice or meanness, rather than the man who exhibited 
them, and that denunciation of wrong was compelled 
by the very purity of his own character. 

I may not close without mentioning one other of 
the many lawyers who have worshipped here. John 
A. Foot belonged to a distinguished Connecticut 
family, his father having been Governor and United 
States Senator. The famous Admiral Foot was his 
brother. Mr. Foot was graduated from Yale College, 
and practiced law seven years before he came to Cleve- 
land in 1833. He formed a partnership with Judge 
Andrews immediately. Afterwards James M. Hoyt 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



209 



became a member of the firm. He was elected to both 
branches of the Legislature. He was a Whig and a 
Republican in politics, and a Presbyterian in religion, 
and supported both his party and his church with an 
enthusiasm which removed them from the field of 
criticism. He never permitted himself to shirk a duty. 
Attendance upon the political caucus, public worship, 
the prayer meeting, and even that much neglected 
function, the annual meeting of the Society, was recog- 
nized as a duty, and therefore invariably performed. 
Year after year he moved the election of the Society 
officers, because he was the only person present who 
could do it with becoming modesty. He was not a 
profoundly learned lawyer, nor did he excel in calm, 
clear statement and reasoning. But when the asser- 
tion of some right appealed to his conscience or his 
sympathy, he was a very formidable adversary, and 
sometimes almost invincible. Mr. Foot was especially 
interested in establishing the Ohio Reform Farm and 
the Industrial School of Cleveland, and they retained 
a large share of his interest and affection until his 
death. But all his thoughts and aspirations centered 
in the loving service of his Master, and it is as a 
teacher and office bearer in this church that he will be 
best remembered by those who knew him in later life. 
"Love out of a pure heart and a good conscience and 
faith unfeigned" were his, and his also was the blessed- 
ness that belongs to the man whose "delight is in the 
law of the Lord." As he retired from practice almost 
entirely over forty years ago, few of us have heard 
him at the Bar; but his peculiar power was shown at 



14 



210 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



the meeting of the congregation after the fire of 1884 
to determine where they should rebuild. Having con- 
cluded reluctantly that the church could not be sup- 
ported financially if it remained on the Public Square, 
he struggled rather feebly to convince himself and 
others that it would be wise to remove to the present 
site of Calvary Church; but the moment he saw the 
way open to even temporary support, he seized the 
opportune moment, asked some one else to take his 
place as Chairman, and made a clear, ringing speech 
in favor of rebuilding the old church, which captured 
his audience so completely that public discussion was 
useless. 

I suppose I cannot excuse myself from saying just 
a word about him who presided over the Society from 
1860 to the time of his death in 1884, and was offi- 
cially connected with it for almost half a century. 
Samuel Williamson was a Pennsylvanian by birth, but 
the family removed to Cleveland in 1810, when he was 
two years old. He was graduated from Jefferson Col- 
lege in 1829, studied law with Judge Andrews, and 
commenced the practice of his profession as a partner 
of Leonard Case. He filled various public offices, gen- 
erally reluctantly and from a sense of duty. For 
many years prior to his death he was the President of 
the Society for Savings. Beyond this meagre state- 
ment I do not trust myself to speak of him dispassion- 
ately. A single sentence spoken of him by another 
must suffice for this occasion. "He was so true, so 
pure, so unfaltering in duty, so grounded in rectitude, 
so sincere and affable in ever patient attention to the 



STONE CHUKCH ANNALS. 



211 



wants and rights of the obscurest and weakest of those 
seeking guidance and counsel, no less than to the pros- 
perous and influential, that his life became to all of us 
a constant example of obedience to the Divine injunc- 
tion to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly 
with God." 

I have consumed more than the time allotted to 
me, and yet many names crowd into your memories, 
as into mine, which have not been mentioned; but 
surely I have mentioned enough to make evident that 
the Old Stone Church has added not a few to the 
cloud of witnesses that compass us about, whose testi- 
mony to the power of faith should inspire us to run 
with patience the race that is set before us. 



THE DAY OF SMALL THINGS, 




THE ORIGINAL "OLD STONE CHURCH, 
THE "MOTHER OF US ALL." 



STONE CHUKOH ANNALS. 



213 



The history of presbyterianism 
in cleveland. 



CONCISELY TOLD BY HIRAM C. HAYDN, 

FEBRUARY 5, 1 893, 
BROUGHT DOWN, IN MOST RESPECTS, TO JAN. I, 1896c 



EzEKiEiy, 17: 8. — It was planted in a good soii, by many waters, 
that it might bring forth branches, and that it might bear fruit, 
that it might be a goodly vine. 

These words from Ezekiel befit our Church, albeit 
not writ of us nor in our day. The vines of the Lord's 
planting — earlier and later — have in them the elements 
of growth and fruit-bearing. 

Ecclesiastically, our Presbyterian and Congrega- 
tional Churches dating from the early years oi this 
csntury, owe their origin, for the most part, to teh 
Connecticut Home Missionary Society. This was 
virgin soil then, and the wise people of New England 
knew well the importance of following the pioneer 
with the institutions of religion and education. In the 
spirit of accommodation, surely to be commended in 
its intent, the churches formed were allowed to deter- 
mine their own internal polity, and then make their 
affiliations with the prevalent Ecclesiastical organiza- 
tion of the vicinity. So it happened that many Con- 
gregational Churches came under Presbyterian rule, 



214 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



and when the dividing line was drawn, some of them 
became out-and-out Presbyterian and others out-and- 
out Congregational. Just which got the best of the 
arrangement, probably matters little, and though much 
discussed by them to whom Church polity means 
almost more than Church itself, I am not aware that 
the controversy was ever settled. It was easy for 
Connecticut Congregationalists to acquiesce in the 
principle of accommodation, for they were con-sociated, 
and con-sociation was Presbytery writ small. They 
were early on the Reserve in the person of Rev. 
Joseph Badger. 

The First Presbyterian Church of Cleveland was 
the outgrowth of a union Sunday School held in a 
primitive log court house, on what is now the Public 
Square. The site is noted as being then "near a copse 
of alder bushes," where now the park fountain plays 
betimes. The court house itself was made of hewn 
logs, boarded outside, and painted red. 

Cleveland was then a straggling village of a hundred 
and fifty people, the greater part, not religiously 
inclined. The school opened in June, 1819 — Mr. 
Elisha Taylor, Superintendent, and Mr. Moses White, 
a leading Baptist, Secretary — issued Tuesday, Septem- 
ber 19 of that year, in the organization of the First 
Presbyterian Church. It is said to have been due to 
Mr. Taylor, chiefly, that the little band of fourteen, 
six upon confession of faith, were led to "adopt the 
Presbyterian doctrine and discipline." Of Mr. Taylor 
himself it is written: "He was probably the equal of 
any of his contemporaries in natural gifts; and his 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



215 



education and culture were superior to theirs. He was 
a man of inflexible resolve, as well as of very sudden 
and intense emotions; and if sometimes in his haste he 
aroused enmity toward himself and even toward the 
cause he professed, no one could observe him nearly 
and throughout, without feeling the power of a 
genuine, earnest and positive Christianity."* 

Mr. Taylor appears, further on, as one of the 
founders of the Euclid Avenue Church. It should be 
said that in April of this year the Rev. Randolph 
Stone, of Morgan, had been engaged by a few persons 
to preach here a third of the time, and that the pre- 
liminary meeting for Church organization occurred 
July 18, Rev. Wm. Hanford, of Hudson, also being 
present. The first Sunday in November, their number 
now grown to fifteen, the sacrament of the Lord's 
Supper was administered for the first time. Not one 
of the founders now survives. 

Their names are thus chronicled in the records of 
that time: Elisha Taylor and Ann, his wife, T. J. 
Hamlin, P. B. Andrews, Sophia L. Perry, widow, 
Bertha Johnson, widow, Sophia Walworth, Mrs. Mabel 
How, Henry Baird and Ann, his wife, Rebecca Carter, 
widow, Juliana Long, Isabella Williamson, Miss 
Harriet How, Minerva Merwin. These were the fore- 
runners of thousands who, since their day, have here 
professed the Presbyterian faith. 

It is difficult for us to do justice to the Cleveland of 
seventy-five years ago. The town, as laid out on paper, 
reached westward, down into the valley following the 

•Dr. W. H. Goodrich's Half Century Sermon. 



J 



216 



STONE CHUKCH ANNALS. 



winding course of the Cuyahoga ; out eastward, one 
tier of lots beyond Erie street ; and southward, near 
to the present site of the Central Market, the "Public 
Square" being very nearly in the center. Prior to 
1820 the growth of the community had been very 
slow. Beginning under the hill, near the river, it 
crept, little by little, up on to the bluff. The oak trees 
were cleared off, the bears and wolves driven back, 
the Indians conciliated and treated to whisky, new 
settlers invited, and some induced to stay. So late as 
1811, an explorer, who reached the mouth of the Cuy- 
ahoga and tarried for a night, entered in his journal 
"that he found hardly any inhabitants and bore away 
a dismal impression of the place ; the air was infected 
with insects and loaded with miasm." He gives it as 
his opinion that no considerable population could ever 
be induced to settle here ; all of which proves him to 
have been no true prophet. 

There was at that time what served for a hotel, 
under the hill, and hard by, a whisky distillery. This 
institution ante-dates school and church, and every 
legitimate industry. Indeed, the people who lived 
here prior to 1820 were many of them likely to want 
whisky, and some, alas to indulge freely. 

It is scarcely probable that the irreligiousness of 
the first settlers of Cleveland will be exaggerated. 
"Not a few of them had fled from Mew England, not 
only to improve their fortunes but to get rid of relig- 
ious restraints, and especially taxes imposed by 
government to support what was styled 'the standing 
orders of the Church.' The sabbath enforced was a 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



217 



weariness to them. And to free themselves from these 
and similar restraints many had migrated to the new 
and cheap lands of Ohio, where they could believe 
anything or nothing and live accordingly. Hence the 
majority of the first settlers either embraced infidelity 
or inclined towards it, or were indifferent to Christi- 
anity. Its friends were few and feeble, and against 
errors in belief and practice, bold and shameless, they 
had to contend against fearful odds."* 

Sunday was the great market day for many years. 
The crack of the rifle, in the copse hard by, often 
disturbed Church services. Indeed, "religion, prior to 
1820 had become a theme of coarse jesting. At one 
time a party of scoffing infidels bore in mocking pro- 
cession through the streets, an effigy of Christ. 
Burlesque commemorations of the Lord's Supper were 
also given and other incidents of His life were coarsely 
parodied. "f The same bitter hostility to the Chris- 
tian faith characterized the founders of Fairport, 
thirty miles below. 

The Connecticut Home Missionary Society had 
followed these pioneers in the person of Rev. Joseph 
Badger, who visited Cleveland in 1801, but found 
more people and greater encouragement in Newburgh 
than here. This was true well on to 1820. 

Meanwhile Trinity Church was organized Novem- 
ber 9, 1816. Services were for several years conduct- 
ed by lay readers, issuing in the first confirmation 
September 29, 1819, Trinity Corporation 1828,— 
one year later than the incorporation of First Presby- 

*Dr. Aiken's Quarter Century Sermon. 
tDr. Goodrich's Half Century Sermon. 



218 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



terian Society, January 5, 1827 — and a Church edifice, 
consecrated August 12, 1829, on the corner of St. 
Clair and Seneca streets. 

It is thus apparent that the Cleveland of 1820 was 
a very unpretentious village, located in an allotment a 
mile square, mostly uncleared, but exceedingly eligible 
as a site for residences, daily expected to spring up. 
In this year the first stage coach arrived from the 
East and gave the citizens public communication with 
the outside world. Two years later the first steamer 
plowed the waters of Lake Erie, also increasing their 
facilities for traffic and travel. Gradually the life of 
the village centered around the "Public Square" and 
extended to the lake, and for fifty years, till 1870, and 
somewhat beyond, old settlers held their own in this 
vicinity against the pressure of business and the seduc- 
tions of the now fairer locations eastward. At that 
time there was a little hamlet at Doan's Corners and 
another at Newburgh. Between rose primitive 
forests, where wolves and bears sometimes contested 
the right of possession. 

For thirteen years, until the basement of the First 
"Old Stone Church" was ready for occupancy, the 
little band of believers had no fixed habitation. "For 
two years they met in the court house, but sometimes 
in the school house on St. Clair street ; then in the 
academy, also on St. Clair street ; and finally in the 
third story of "Dr. Long's building," now embraced 
in the American House. "The congregation was still 
small and generally poor," and the building of a 
church a formidable undertaking. But the society 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



219 



having been incorporated in 1827, after many meet- 
ings and discussions, plans were adopted ; and the 
building, commenced on the present site in 1832, was 
dedicated February 26, 1834. The number of com- 
municant members about doubled during the first ten 
years, and at this time numbered ninety-four. This 
was followed by the first general revival that blessed 
this community and added to this Church thirty by 
profession. Ninety-one were also added by letter this 
same year. 

The Rev. John Keep, at this time stated supply, 
December 18, 1834, moderated a meeting on the west 
side of the river, which resulted in the organization 
of the First Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn, and he 
became its pastor. This Church, by a process of 
evolution, is now the First Congregational Church 
of Cleveland. Brooklyn became Ohio City and then, 
in 1855, a part of Cleveland. 

Up to this time there had been no settled ministry, 
and "supplies had been rather transient than stated." 
The Church itself was for a while a mission Church, 
aided from without. Of the first six men who minis- 
tered here during the first fifteen years, the term of 
the Rev. S. J. Bradstreet was much the longest. Of 
him Dr. Aiken says: "Often have I heard him spoken 
of by the old inhabitants as an able, self-denying and 
faithful minister, who received for his services more 
affection than money. Indeed, as most of them have 
now gone to their reward, it is not improper for me 
to say that all were devoted and excellent men."* 

* Quarter Century Sermon. 



220 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



In 1835 two things of consequence happened. 
Prof. Finney began his memorable work in Oberlin, 
and Silas C. Aiken, D. D., of Utica, N. Y., was called 
to the pastorate of this Church. He accepted, entered 
upon his labors the 7th of June, and was installed 
24th November. 

Of the man and period no one is better qualified 
to speak than Dr. Goodrich. Of both he says: "There 
was, at this time, an unusual disposition toward spur- 
ious excitement, which gave abundant occasion for 
mischief in the Church, especially among the newer 
settlements. The dreams of perfectionism, the 
vagaries of Millerism, and the premonitory stir and 
struggle of the great anti-slavery and temperance 
movements were engrossing many minds, and throw- 
ing unstable men everywhere off their balance." In 
such a time Dr. Aiken came to the pastorate of the 
First Church. "To his clear and practical wisdom, 
his weight of character, as well as to his unselfish con- 
secration to the service of Christ, we owe it that this 
Church escaped the disorders which rent so many 
other Christian bodies, and held on its way with 
growing strength and unity." 

At the time of his coming the population of the 
village was 5,080. The next year Cleveland was in- 
corporated as a city. Besides Trinity Church, the 
Methodists had gained a footing since 1830, the Bap- 
tists were organized since 1833, the Roman Catholics 
built their first Church in 1835 on the flats, and the 
same year the first Bethel Church was opened on the 
side-hill. There were now five denominations repre- 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



221 



sented in the village. At Newburg a Church had been 
organized in 1832, which is now the vigorous Miles 
Park Church of 450 members. At Doan's Corners a 
Presbyterian Church was organized in 1843. One 
woman, it is said, carried if for Presbyterianism 
against thirty or forty men, but it did not stick. It 
separated from Presbytery, and after ten years of 
independency, became the Euclid Avenue Congrega- 
tional Church. Eastward in Collamer there had been 
a Church since 1807, organized on "the plan of 
Union." It elected elders at the beginning, became 
Presbyterian March 15, 1810, and united with Hart- 
ford Presbytery August 23, the same year. Eev. 
Thomas Barras was installed pastor. 

From this time, 1835, the growth of the city was 
more rapid. At the time of Dr. Aiken's resignation 
in 1860 the population was 43,838. He had seen five 
seasons of marked religious interest, two of which 
added large numbers to the Church. The accession 
from the new families was also large from the first. 
The Church edifice was soon outgrown, indeed, almost 
immediately. The competition for pews created dis- 
satisfaction and drove people away to other Churches. 
To relieve the pressure a colony of "twenty of the 
best families" "went forth in 1836 to form a second 
Presbyterian Church, securing a charter under date of 
April 3, 1837. After about a year the enterprise was 
abandoned, and the members returned to their original 
home in the First Church." The financial crash of 
1837 is thought, for one thing, to have crippled its 
strength. 



222 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



A powerful revival m 1840, under the ministry of 
Rev. J. T. Avery, added to this Church about one 
hundred and seventy members, and prepared the way 
for a secession from the mother Church of some who 
had become dissatisfied with Dr. Aiken's moderately 
conservative position on the slavery question, to form 
a Congregational Church. This enterprise was 
wrecked by Second Adventism, the current "perfec- 
tionism" of the day, and kindred errors. The spirit 
of disputation was unfavorable to growth and by 
reason of debt they were forced to sell their Church 
edifice and to disband. Some of them returned to the 
mother Church. 

In June, 1844, the Second Presbyterian Society 
was organized on the old charter of 1837, and a 
Church of fifty-eight members, all but five from the 
First Church, was constituted. The meeting for this 
purpose was held in the basement of the Stone Church, 
Dr. Aiken presiding. This step was taken with utmost 
good feeling, though for the time being it was regarded 
as a serious crippling of the mother Church. Espec- 
ially was the loss of Mr. T. P. Handy deeply felt. As 
a young man he had identified himself with the activ- 
ities of the First Church and given promise of what 
he has since become, one of the best known and best 
beloved Presbyterian laymen in the country. Of the 
original charter members thirteen are known to be 
living. 

Dr. Sherman B. Canfield, for two years the pastor 
of the Church across the river, became the choice of 
the second Church, September, 1844, and the Church 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



223 



edifice of the disbanded Congregation alists, standing 
on the northwest corner of the Park, was purchased. 
For seven years the two Churches worshipped side by 
side. The Church building, a frame structure, was 
then sold to the Erie Street Baptist Church and by 
them removed to the corner of Erie and Ohio streets, 
where it now stands. The Second had, at this time, 
in the course of erection, the Church edifice that for 
twenty years graced Superior street, where the 
Crocker block now stands. The lecture room was 
occupied in 1851, the audience room in 1852 ; a 
chapel was added in 1870, and the Church was burned 
in 1876. This was followed by a removal to the cor- 
ner of Prospect street and Sterling avenue, where the 
present commodious structure, with every appliance 
for efficient Church work, valued at $140,000, Church 
and lot, was erected — begun in 1877 and dedicated in 
1888. 

The growth of the Second Church is also remark- 
able. By decades, in the first ten years, 356 ; in the 
second, 388 ; in the third, 468 ; in the fourth, 686 ; 
As might be inferred, this Church has enjoyed many 
seasons of gracious refreshing, of which the results 
are here indicated. The present membership is 908. 
This church has been exceedingly fortunate in its pas- 
torates. They have been few and strong. There are 
but four names in forty-eight years, Canfield, Eells, 
Hawks and Pomeroy. Dr. Canfield was a welcome 
accession to the evangelical strength of his day and a 
powerful ally of Dr. Aiken in the contentions of that 
time. Dr. Eells, remarkable for his oratorical gifts, 



224 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



was so beloved that a second pastorate was enjoyed 
by him, each of which, in turn, was sundered only by 
the imperative call of circumstances over which he 
had no control, and to the great sorrow of his people. 
Dr. Hawks is remembered as the affable Christian 
gentlemen, an earnest, capable preacher and a faith- 
ful pastor, now engaged as an instructor in the 
Springfield, Mass., college for lay workers. Dr. 
Charles S. Pomeroy*, the worthy successor of them all, 
holds the fort and directs the energies of what is now, 
in some respects, the strongest Presbyterian Church 
of the city. 

The Second is also, though not by colonization, the 
mother of churches. 

In 1855 the Mayflower Sunday School, which had 
been organized two years before, was adopted as a 
mission, and a building was erected on a lot given by 
Mr. Joseph Perkins, of the Third Church. Messrs. 
Handy, T. Dwight and Dan P. Eells, and Charles J. 
Dockstader were, successively, superintendents. Rev. 
Messrs. Little and Day preached and otherwise fos- 
tered this work, which issued April 18, 1872, in the 
Woodland Avenue Presbyterian Church of fifty-four 
members, twenty-three of whom were from Congrega- 
tional Churches, twenty-two from the Second, three, 
soon increased to eleven, from the First, three on pro- 
fession of faith. For a year and a half preparations 
had been going forward, a lot had been purchased and 
a chapel so far erected as to be ready for occupancy 
May 5 following, at a total cost of $27,208.13. The 



•Dr. Pomeroy died, after a brief illness, Sept. 10th, 1894. 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



225 



first available funds towards this enterprise was a leg- 
acy of $1,000 from Mrs. Sarah C. Adams, for twenty 
years missionary among the Zulus. Other outside 
funds were helpful to the amount of $12,032.89. The 
Presbyterian Union of Cleveland, founded in 1869 to 
promote the work of Church Extension within this 
city, endorsed this enterprise at the beginning, but, 
from its organization, the Church had been self-sup- 
porting and free from debt. The Sunday School of 
this Church has long been the largest in the city, 
reaching, one year, a membership of 1623, an average 
of 1060, and adding to the Church, in all, 911. The 
membership in twenty years increased from 54 to 
1141. From the beginning, 1135 have been received 
by profession, by certificate 770 ; a total of 1095. 

It is not surprising that, with a growth so phe- 
nomenal, the original chapel should have been soon 
outgrown. The present Church edifice was dedicated 
November 17, 1878, at a cost of $26,369.85, of this, 
from without, $4,580. The old Sunday School build- 
ing was replaced by a new one — large and commo- 
dious—May 27, 1890, at a cost of $32,447.12. The 
records are so perfectly kept, that the growth, year 
by year, and a statement of all moneys contributed, 
are instantly available, and the grand total is : for 
church property, $86,025.10 ; expenses of Church, 
$141,285.44; benevolent account, $19,748,13; for 
Sunday School, $8,105.35 ; by Sunday School, $9,071,- 
62 ; by auxiliary societies within the Church, $28,809 
—a total of $296,559,60! of which about $16,672.89 
was received from without. Such a record is rarely 



15 



226 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



paralleled. There have been t four pastors, Rev. 
Messrs. E. P. Gardner, S. L. Blake, G. L. Spinning 
and Paul F. Sutphen, lately removed to Newark, N. J. 
— all good and faithful men ; the latter entering into 
a rare opportunity prepared for him, and using it with 
consummate tact and ability, became too well known 
abroad to be left in peace, and, at this date — 1893 — 
a great field, held thus far with little competition, 
is pastorless.* 

April 12, 1874, a union Sunday School was started 
on Willson avenue, in a chapel of wood, now the As- 
bury Methodist Church, at a cost of $1,350. Of the 
five trustrees three were Disciples, one Presbyterian 
and one Methodist. Mr. L. W. Bingham, of the 
First Presbyterian Church, was superintendent for 
three years, until called to another field occupied by 
his own Church. This chapel was bought by the 
Second Church, and Mr. Dan P. Eells became super- 
intendent from 1877-83. In 1881 there was enrolled 
613. In March, 1882, a Church of forty-eight mem- 
bers, twenty-three from the Second Church, was or- 
ganized under the auspices of the Presbyterian union, 
which has grown to a present membership of 312 — 
received from the beginning 435. In 1883-4 Mr. 
Eells secured the present site and generously erected 
a church at the corner of Willson and Lexington 
avenues, at a total cost of $37,000. Rev. C. T. Ches- 
ter became pastor May 14, 1882, and was succeeded, 
after an interregnum, by Rev. A. J. Waugh, April 1, 
1890. It became independent of the Union January 
1, 1892. Congregational expenses met by the 

*Dr. Sutphen was for two years succeeded by Rev. C. L. Townsend, now Pastor 
in Orange, N. J., and he by Rev. R. (x. Hutchings, D. D., now in charge- 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



227 



Church, during ten years, amount to $20,772, and 
benevolences to $2,668. This Church has occupied a 
somewhat limited field, but is doing a good work with 
a hopeful future. 

Mr. T. Sterling Beckwith, an elder of the Second 
Church, died March 25, 1876, leaving by will, to the 
session of this Church, a certain property, the income 
of which was to be used in founding a Church, or 
Churches, to be known by his name. Such, in brief, 
was the moving cause of the Beckwith Presbyterian 
Church, on Fairmount street, organized with twenty- 
three members, four from the First, two from the 
Second, June 17, 1885, in a chapel ready for their 
use. The chapel, with the lot, cost $15,000. The 
Church has thriven under two pastorates, that of 
Rev., now Prof., Mattoon M. Curtis and that of the 
present pastor, Rev. James D. Williamson. Under 
the leadership of the latter the chapel has been 
superceded by a substantial edifice of stone at a total 
cost of $30,000. It has, from the first, been aided 
from the Beckwith fund, and signally from the Second 
Church in the erection of the new building ; some- 
what also by the old First. The present member- 
ship is 190, with a Sunday School of 230. 
Their contributions to the Boards of the Church, 
$2,972. Proximity to the colleges is a feature of 
special interest in the work of this Church, which 
now moves on to assured strength. These outgrowths 
of the Second Church, in the manner indicated, issu- 
ing in three Churches of noble history and influence, 
in no way drained its strength, the total of its mem- 



228 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



bership going into the new organizations, at the first, 
being under fifty. 

Resuming the narrative of the First Church — six 
years later, March 25, 1850, as a result, in part at 
least, of the anti-slavery agitation, another Church of 
thirty members was formed, known for two years as 
the Free Presbyterian Church, but since then the 
Plymouth Congregational. This second attempt to 
found a Congregational Church was successful and be- 
came the forerunner of a succession which has cov- 
ered the city with a network of Churches. 

It was about this time, February, 1851, that the 
first of many railroads made its entrance into Cleve- 
land from Columbus. It was a great event, bringing 
here, as it happened, over Sunday, a great many nota- 
ble men. They helped to fill the Church to hear Dr. 
Aiken's commemorative sermon, which has become 
historic. The text was fitting, the graphic word-pic- 
ture of Nahum : "The chariots rage in the streets, 
they jostle one against another in the broadways ; the 
appearance of them is like torches, they run like the 
lightning." — Nahum 2:4. 

But three years later, January 25, 1853, owing to 
the overcrowded condition of the old First, the 
Euclid Street, now the Euclid Avenue Presbyterian 
Church, was organized in the spirit of good will, with 
thirteen from the mother Church. Among them was 
the veteran Elisha Taylor, one of the founders of the 
First. In the spring of the year following, their 
chapel was completed, and Dr. Joseph B. Bittinger 
became pastor in the autumn. Through a long period 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



229 



of struggle and costly sacrifice this Church has come 
to its present strength and admirable equipment. Its 
first pastor was one of the most notable men in the 
ministry of Cleveland, and probably the best Bible 
student the city has ever had. Looking over the list 
of pastors, Bittinger, Monteith, Lyman who died at 
his post, Baldwin, J effers, Robertson, Davis, Sprecher, 
one recognizes in each characteristic traits of strength 
and usefulness, two of whom have passed on to their 
reward from the midst of their work for Christ and 
his Church. For a variety of reasons the pastorates 
have been short. 

In the course of these forty years there have been 
frequent enlargements, even a rebuilding of portions 
of the church, at no inconsiderable cost. The original 
lot and church edifice cost $60,750, which has been 
improved upon almost continually, notably in 1883 at 
an expense of $15,000, issuing in 1892 in a new chapel 
with all modern conveniences, at a cost of $15,000. 
This Church — the only one of our order* — also has a 
beautiful parsonage, the gift of the lamented and 
philanthropic Joseph Perkins. The present member- 
ship is 467 ; the Sunday School numbers 300, and its 
benevolences the last ten years, average about $30,000, 
its current expenses, about $12,000. 

The Case Avenue Church is the outgrowth of a 
Sunday School organized in a private house on the 
corner of Case and Cedar avenues, the first Sabbath 
of November, 1867, and taken under the care of the 
Euclid Avenue Church. In 1868 it was housed in a 

♦Calvary Church built a parsonage, 1894. 



230 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



wooden chapel on Sibley street. A Church, known 
as the Memorial Presbyterian Church — now Case 
Avenue — of thirty-five members, thirteen from the 
Euclid Avenue, was organized October 2, 1870, which 
a year later numbered seventy-seven. The brick 
chapel on Cedar avenue was erected in 1872, and the 
present commodious church edifice of stone, at a cost 
of $25,000, during 1880-81. The present member- 
ship is 480. The Rev. P.E. Kipp is the present pastor,* 
successfully following upon Rev. Messrs. Skinner, 
Horton and Ogden. The Church has had a healthy 
growth, from a Home Missionary Church under the 
Presbyterian Union for about three years, into self- 
support, and then, a helper of others. Statistics of 
moneys raised are not within reach. As a mission it 
had the ardent support of Dr. Lyman, who was not 
permitted to see the fruit of his planting. 

In March, 1853, the "Executive Committee" of the 
Old School Presbyterian Church sent Fred T. Brown, 
D, D., to this city to inquire into the practicability of 
organizing a Church of that type. The report was 
favorable, and Dr. Brown gathered up from the 
Churches twenty-six members— five from the Old First 
—favorable to the movement. A Church was organ- 
ized January 2, 1856, that met for a time in Temper- 
ance Hall, Ontario street, then bought and occupied 
the old "Round Church," corner of Wood and Theresa 
streets. Dr. Brown was an able man, as was Dr. 
Raffensperger after him, but the Church was out of its 
latitude. It never prospered, even though at length 

*Since succeeded by Rev. F. F. Kennedy. 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



231 



well located at the corner of Prospect and Huntington 
streets. It reached, in 1873, after twenty-one years, 
a membership of 123, and was finally dissolved April 
16, 1875. The property was mortgaged to the Board 
of Church Erection. 

The next step forward on the site of the old First 
was the erection of a new and large church edifice, at 
a cost of $60,000. It was pushed forward with unan- 
imity and entered with gladness August 12, 1855. 
But alas, within two years, March 7, 1857, nothing 
remained but the bare walls and a portion of the 
chapel. The fire had done its work. It was a day of 
great sadness. Of this event Dr. Aiken says : "At 
the time, it was considered a great calamity, and was 
deeply deplored, not only by this society but by the 
city, which, with its high towers and beautiful spire, 
was regarded as both useful and ornamental. But as 
some evils bring with them their own remedy, and 
some losses are not so real as apparent, so this, though 
at first quite overwhelming, has in more ways than 
one contributed to the unity, the pecuniary strength 
and prosperity of this congregation."* 

An insurance of $30,000 enabled the society to 
rebuild, at once, except galleries and spire, and the 
new edifice was dedicated January 17, 1858. This 
same year, August 12, Dr. Win. H. Goodrich became 
associate pastor with Dr. Aiken. Three years later, 
April, 1861, Dr. Aiken was made pastor emeritus, 
upon an annual stipend of $1,000. During his sole 
pastorate of twenty-three years, 880 united with this 
Church. 

♦Quarter Century Sermon. 



232 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



In 1859, the year after the re-building and Dr. 
Goodrich's coming, a mission was begun as a Sunday 
School in charge of Charles Noble, Esq., on St. Clair 
street, which grew into the North Church,' in 1865, 
constituted of fifty-one members dismissed from the 
Old First. For a long time the Sunday School was 
the main feature, the teachers being drawn mostly 
from the mother Church, and to this day, almost with- 
out interruption, it has been superintended by some 
one of her members. For twelve years the Goodrich 
Society sustained the school at an annual expense of 
about $1,000, then gradually withdrew. Early 
removed to Aaron street, the first church edifice was 
built in 1886, chiefly by this congregation, at an 
expense of $10,000. This was during Mr. T. D. 
Crocker's superintendency, and for four years services 
were sustained by stated supplies, Messrs. Peck, 
Johnson and Shorts. The settled pastors were, from 
the first, the care of the Presbyterian Union. The 
quarters proved too small for the great Sunday School 
— for awhile the largest in the city — and the work was 
carried on to great disadvantage. Also the site proved 
not permanently the best ; so, after much discussion 
and long waiting, a new one was chosen on the corner 
of Case avenue and Superior street, and a new edifice 
erected, at a cost — mainly, though somewhat assisted 
by members of the Second and Third Churches, with 
the aid of the First Church— of $25,000. From the 
first, the people of the mission, and then of the North 
Church, did what they could to help themselves ; but 
planted in the midst of a community of little wealth, 



STONE CHUKCH ANNALS. 



233 



it was imperative that the heavier burdens should be 
borne from without. The present site was occupied 
October 23, 1887, since which time the Church has 
been self-supporting and greatly prospered. It has 
been an incalculable blessing to the working people of 
that part of the city ; and outreaching eastward, a 
Sunday School of forty was opened January 5, 1890, 
in Bramleis Hall, Becker avenue, which speedily grew 
into a membership of 300, upwards. In connection 
with this mission, October 19, 1892, was organized the 
Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church of ninety mem- 
bers — sixty-four from the North Church — and both 
Church and Sunday School were sheltered by the new 
brick and stone chapel at the corner of Wade Park 
avenue, December 4, 1892. The North Church has 
been aided in this mission by the Presbyterian Union, 
and the cost of the plant, $13,000, has, by under- 
standing with the Union, been largely borne by the Old 
First and Calvary. The pastor of the new enterprise 
is Rev. Charles L. Chalfant. This Church has its 
record to make, but it begins well. This leaves the 
North Church with a present membership — 1893 — 
of 730. It has raised an aggregate of moneys, $50,944. 
Beginning with 18 70, folio wing upon the stated supplies, 
for two years Dr. Anson Smythe was pastor elect, not 
consenting to be settled ; followed in 1872 by Rev. H. R. 
Hoisington — kindly remembered here — until 1880, 
when Rev. William Gaston took the helm, and still 
holds it, having received into the Church by profession 
of faith 783, by letter 340, in all 1123. Not quite 100 
per year, a record quite unusual. In all this work he 



234 STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 

has been bravely seconded by Mr. S. P. Fenn, of the 
Old First, superintendent since 1879, and moving and 
executive spirit in building the new church. Dr. 
Goodrich's pastorate extended from 1858 to July 
11, 1874, three years at the beginning as associate 
with Dr. Aiken, the last two years as senior pastor 
with Hiram C. Haydn. These two years were spent 
wholly abroad in the vain hope of restored health. 
He passed from earth in Lausanne, Switzerland, July 
11, 1874. Dr. Aiken survived him, but for the most 
part, in shattered health, passing away January 1, 
1879. 

This period, 1858-74, was one of notable growth 
in the city and in the Churches. Beginning with one 
of the most remarkable and wide-spread of revivals, 
inclusive of the period of the Civil War and the era 
of prosperity that followed, this Church was favored 
in Dr. Goodrich, by a cultured, able, well balanced 
ministry, to which she responded in growth and useful- 
ness, in kindly regard for the poor through organiza- 
tions of his suggestion, and in fraternal relations with 
all other Churches of the city which he heartily 
fostered. 

During his pastorate, in 1868, the church galleries 
were put in and the spire carried up ; and in 1871, 
under the leadership of Hon. George H. Ely, a still 
greater improvement transformed the narrow chapel 
and parlors, of old, into the roomier ones on an 
enlarged site. These rooms were greatly enjoyed, but 
twenty years later they were overshadowed and dark- 
ened by adjacent buildings, and finally replaced by the 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



235 



still better improvement of a year ago, under the 
leadership of Superintendent Charles L. Kimball, 
which gave us our present chapel and its modern 
belongings. 

Hiram C. Haydn was installed associate pastor 
with Dr. Goodrich at the close of August, 1872. It 
was the last Sabbath Dr. Goodrich ever spent with 
this Church. Fortunately for all concerned a veil was 
drawn between us and the years to follow. The 
period from 1872-80 was marked by no extraordinary 
changes. It was one of healthy growth at home, and 
in the North Church Mission. 

A somewhat vigorous mission among the waifs of 
St. Clair street, near Dodge, under the lead of Mr. A. 
H. Potter and a faithful band of workers, was prose- 
cuted for two or three years. It was difficult mission 
work, pure and simple, and only this was contem- 
plated. There was no material for a self-supporting 
Church. 

From 1877-80 Mr. B. F. Shuart, a layman of rare 
fitness for the work, began an afternoon service, 
known as the "Bible Class," and reached a large num- 
ber of people. Many of them were brought into the 
Church and became useful members. Mr. Shuart 
afterward became pastor of a Church in Billings, 
Montana. Retiring on account of ill health, he made, 
in that locality, a marked success in business. He 
was a typical lay-worker of the best class, and is so 
still. 

The movement of these years, of most signifi- 



236 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



cance, was one inaugurated in an abandoned field on 
Euclid avenue, beyond Wilson, in a chapel originally 
built, and for several years occupied, as a Union Sun- 
day School. Members of several Churches, T. Dwight 
Eells, H. B. Tuttle and others, Avere for many years 
interested in it. The growth of Churches about and 
the death of some of its main stays led to its discon- 
tinuance. In November, 1878, the pastor of the 
First Church was invited to reopen and prosecute the 
work as a denominational mission. It was accepted as 
a call of Providence. Beginning with a weekly 
prayer meeting, a Sunday School of seventy-three— 
soon growing to 250— was organized January 1, 1880, 
with Mr. L. W. Bingham for superintendent ; the 
chapel was turned over to the First Church, a lot was 
bought at the corner of Euclid and East Madison 
avenues, the Chapel moved, Rollo Ogden called as 
assistant minister, and, on the first Sunday of July, 
Church services, followed by the communion 
and the reception of members, were begun. 
This was the beginning of what, since July 1, 
1892, is the Calvary Presbyterian Church. For twelve 
years it was held as collegiate with the old First, 
sharing its ministry, oversight and generous co-oper- 
ation. During this period the new chapel of stone 
was first built, at a total cost of $21,000, and dedi- 
cated free of debt September 30, 1883. Till 1877 the 
little old wooden chapel stood in front, also, used 
for a primary Sunday School. An annex to the 
chapel was then built, at a cost of $5,000, and the 
relic of other days gave way to the foundation of the 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



237 



elegant new church which now occupies the corner. 
This edifice, begun in the autumn of 1887, was occu- 
pied for the first time January, 5, 1890, having cost the 
sum of $80,000. May 23, 1892, 306 members— since 
increased to 324 — were dismissed to constitute the 
new Church. From the beginning, the First Church 
had, besides sharing its ministry, invested here, in 
permanent improvements, over $40,000. The local 
current expenses, from the beginning, had been almost 
wholly met by the Calvary constituency. This order 
held on its way till July last. 

There is no better place than just here to speak of 
the Bolton avenue enterprise. This was an extension 
of the Collegiate System to a second branch of the 
First Church, at the corner of Bolton and Cedar 
avenues. It was begun in the spring of 1890, the lot 
purchased, the chapel built, paid for, and entered the 
last Sunday of December of that year, at a cost of 
about $15,000, wholly met, except furnishing, by the 
stronger congregations. This has been a flourishing 
enterprise from the beginning and meets a want of the 
thickly settled district south of Cedar avenue. Here, 
also, a Church is needed, and contemplated at once, 
at a cost, complete, of not less than $25,000. The 
chapel congregation is still a branch of the First 
Church, where perhaps 175-200 of her members 
worship. Since July they have had a minister of 
their own, Kev. E. A. George. The new Church edi- 
fice finished, it is not unlikely that another inde- 
pendent Church will at once be formed, and the 



238 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



mother of churches will be left alone to go on her 

way.* 

From 1880-84 Dr. Arthur Mitchell,f now Secretary 
of the Foreign Board, was senior pastor. He took up 
the work of Dr. Haydn, laid down for a missionary 
secretaryship in New York, and from it, at the end of 
that period, went, himself, to a similar work at the 
call of the Presbyterian Board. The old Church was 
burned a second time January 5, 1884. This unset- 
tling event and Dr. Mitchell's ardent and intelligent 
zeal for missions, emphasized the call which was being 
pressed upon him to enter this field. These were 
years not to be forgotten by many who enjoyed his 
devoted and able ministry, and were led to share his 
enlarged views of Church life and work. He was 
seconded in his labors by Rev. Rollo Ogden, who be- 
came his son-in-law, and later by Rev. J. W. Simp- 
son, now president of Marietta College. 

The old church, rebuilt at a cost of $35,000, ex- 
clusive of memorial windows, was made more at- 
tractive than ever, indeed one of the most attractive 
audience rooms in the city. Dr. Haydn was recalled 
to the pastorate, with Rev. Wilton Merle Smith, of 
Cazenovia, now Dr. Smith, of New York, as associate. 
Pastors and people entered the rejuvenated Church 
October, 1884, and the work of the collegiate pas- 
torate was resumed with courage and hope. A some- 

*The new Church Edifice has since been built, beautiful and commodious, for 
which a fine new organ is now building. But this congregation was rent in twain 
in the spring of 1894. when more than half the members and a still larger part of 
the Sunday School withdrew, with Mr. George, and formed the Trinity Congrega- 
tional Church. The immediate cause was the attempt to put a limit to the services 
of Mr. George, who had not been installed, in the hope of securing a pastor in 
whom the parish might be fully united. He was succeeded by Key. John Sheridan 
Zelie, of Plymouth, Conn., who began his work with the opening of the new 
Church, July, 1894. Under his gifted and spiritual ministry the Church has 
greatly prospered and draws nigh to an existence independent of the mother 
Church, for which she will be fully equipped. 

tDr. Mitchell has since passed to his reward. 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



239 



what discouraged people rallied to their work and be- 
gan the most fruitful decade of its history, with the 
Old Stone and Calvary congregations in close affilia- 
tion. Dr. Smith, as we now call him, was a stirring, 
magnetic preacher, with very effective social and pas- 
toral gifts, seconded by a wife his equal in noble and 
winsome qualities. He was very soon beset to enter 
other fields, and within three and a half years he ac- 
cepted a call to the Central Presbyterian Church of 
New York city. Kev. Joseph H. Selden, of Erie, 
now of Elgin, 111., succeeded him ; and in the autumn 
of 1890, Rev. Burt E. Howard, of Bay City, now of 
Los Angeles, California, was called as a second asso- 
ciate pastor, and the Bolton Chapel congregation was 
taken under the wing of the First Church. These five 
unusual men have served the Church as associate pas- 
tors, of diverse gifts, but each strong in his way : — 
Ogden, Simpson, Smith, Selden, Howard. Each has 
gone hence to work in independent fields, and to each 
this associate pastorate has proved a good place to go 
from, whatever it may have been to stay in. The 
breaking up of the Collegiate system, by mutual con- 
sent, chiefly because of its largeness as one field and 
the consequent diffusion of pastoral influence, rather 
than from any special dissatisfaction, set these young- 
er brethern free for the noble fields they have since 
entered. Rev. Wm. Knight was then called to the 
associate pastorate of the Stone Church congregation, 
and another departure was made which contemplates 
a more distinctive effort for the down-town popula- 
tion. Mr. Knight was called to Saginaw, Mich., after 
two years service. 



240 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



During this period, 1884 — 1893, the senior pastor of 
this church was for three years President of the West- 
ern Reserve University. To make good the partial 
withdrawal from pastoral work, Rev. Giles H. Dun- 
ning was called from Buffalo. Under his direction a 
Sunday school of about 300 was gathered on the 
West Side, which resulted in the organization of 
Bethany Church of 59 members July 3, 1889. This 
took 22 from the Old First, about 30 in all, and Mr. 
Dunning became pastor of the West Side church. 
For the present they occupy rented quarters on Pearl 
street. One hundred and ninety-six have been re- 
ceived into fellowship and 159 are still members. 
The record of moneys raised is $4,081.02. It is still 
under the care of the Union, as are the South and 
Madison Avenue Churches. It has a lady missionary 
in China and a student preparing for the ministry.* 

The South Side Church, just named, is a new en- 
terprise at the corner of Scranton avenue and Prame 
street, the outgrowth of a Sunday school started by 
the Union, organized by the late Mr Corwin, having a 
property worth $10,000, a membership of 63. With 
Mr. Roemer as pastor-elect the infant church hopes 
to be led on to strength. The cost of lot and chapel 
is being borne by churches of the Union, outside the 
First, Calvary and the North. 

It will thus be seen that, from the first, the origi- 
nal fountain of Presbyterianism in our city began to 
give out, while as yet it was small, to replenish itself 

*Bethany Church, removed to the corner of Gordon avenue and West Clinton 
st, is now housed in a beautiful stone and brick chapel, built at an expense of 
about $9,500 besides the lot, and dedicated July, 1895. 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



241 



and again give forth, and so on unto this very day. 
Its location, at first central to its constituency, has 
now for many years been in the heart of business, and 
central only when considered in reference to both 
sides of the river — in any event, ill-suited to receive 
any considerable portion of the resident newcomers. 
Its outlying membership has largely gone into new 
enterprises — in all about 750. There have been re- 
ceived from the beginning, to April 1, 1895, 3,991. 
The original founders long since all passed away, and 
very largely also the accessions of 1840 or thereabouts; 
but there has been slight disposition among the older 
families, at first rooted here, to leave save for very 
imperative reasons. For all this is so, the church 
still stands in the center of an immense population — 
within a half-mile of which live 15,000 souls, and still 
it has a mission as important as ever. This completes 
the proposed survey. 

Standing where we now do, seventy-five years 
from the fountain head in the center of a strag- 
gling village, it is very difficult for us to compass 
such a period of history, covering the entire growth of 
our city, during which almost every building, of any 
sort, now in existence, and all our industries, our 
shipping, our railroads, our public schools, academies 
and colleges, our churches, asylums and hospitals, our 
beautiful avenues and populous streets, have sprung 
into being. Is it not well that we pause and consider 
what we owe to those few disciples of our Lord who, 
in their poverty, environed by the hardships of pioneer 
life and in the face of virulent opposition, laid the 



16 



242 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



foundation of the church of Christ here, under several 
names and forms, almost simultaneously? Does any- 
body suppose that our city could ever have become 
what it is now but for those churches? That any 
such body of people could have been drawn and held 
together, apart from the conserving and unifying 
spirit of the church of Christ % If we can imagine 
the spirit of infidelity, rampant here in the first twenty 
years of this century, to have been continuously so, 
then we must also picture to ourselves a very different 
Cleveland from this. They who organized Trinity 
Church and those that followed in the next ten years 
did well for themselves and still better for posterity. 
Their saintly and sainted men and women, their 
Christian households, their devoted pastorates, their 
Sabbath services, their Christian training and nurture 
of the young, their sermons, prayers, impulses to 
every good cause — to reform, education, patriotism in 
the country's defense, in the country's desperate need, 
speak for themselves. We profoundly honor the 
memory of the founders of these churches, and we do 
well. It does not enter into my purpose to institute 
any invidious comparison of Presbyterians with 
others, but to claim for them some humble share in 
the great work that has been wrought by the churches 
of our city, both here and elsewhere. Of Cleveland 
Presbyterianism it may be said : 

1. That it was, from the beginning, New Eng- 
landized and then recruited from New York rather 
than from Pennsylvania. It early got on to the anti- 
slavery side of the great national struggle, though not 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



243 



as speedily as some wished. In theology it also was 
reasonably liberal, and therefore ready to be exscind- 
ed in 1837 with all those that from that year till 1870 
were honorably distinguished as New School Presby- 
terians. So much of one mind were they that, as we 
have seen, the attempt to establish an old school 
church here found but a meager support, and as years 
went on less maintenance, and the church with the 
weighty Westminster name has now for many years 
lived only in history. It is still of the same spirit in 
these controversial times of differing opinions, yet with 
one mind deprecating a resort to church courts to 
enforce uniformity of belief — loyal still to truth and 
the church; too loyal to see her rent again in twain 
without solemn, earnest protest. 

2. Our Presbyterianism has always been evange- 
listic and fairly aggressive. This is to be inferred 
from the fact that it shared and welcomed with others 
the revivals of 1840, '57-8, '66, and the great Union 
movements of later years, centering here, in the old 
Tabernacle and in Music Hall. What vast assem- 
blies ! And how swayed betimes by Moody and 
Sankey, Hartzler, Mills and Greenwood, and others ! 

Aggressive, as seen in the network of churches, 
now — 1896 — numbering fifteen. Their aggregate 
membership is 6,381 ; they are, for the most part, 
housed in admirable shape, with modern chapels and 
parlors for the local activities of the church, their 
properties estimated at from $850,000 to $1,000,000 
in value. They furnish sittings for about 10,000 wor- 
shipers ; they gather under their wing in Sunday 



244 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



Schools 6,220 ; women's work in its various forms is 
in organized shape in all of them ; children and youth 
are, in all of them, recognized among the working 
forces of the Church ; their reported charities last 
year amounted to $342,754; their congregational ex- 
penses, in part for new buildings, amounted to $120,- 
218— a total of $462,972 ! We have been character- 
ized, rightly or wrongly, with reference to our for- 
eign missionary spirit, "Mission-loving Cleveland." 

The dates of our Church organizations are 1820, 
'44, '53, '65, '70, '72, '74, '85, '89, in 1892 three, in 
1894 one, in 1896 one. Our six Churches of 1876 
had then aggregate membership of 2,260 in a popu- 
lation of 130,000, now grown to fifteen with a mem- 
bership of 6,381 in a population of 330,000 — nearly 
trebling while the population has been doubling. 

And in those new and later movements of 
Christian Associations, Friendly Inns, Kindergartens 
and Nurseries, Hospital work, care of the needy and 
work of rescue, and newest of all — Boys' Clubs, what 
time and money have freely flowed into them from 
Presbyterian sources!* And how many times have 
our sister Churches, in their extension work and the 
exigencies of debt, gleaned the Presbyterian field ? 

3. Nor have we been lacking in the spirit of re- 
form as this has swept over our community and our 
land. It has found a response in our hearts and 
lives just so far as commended by intelligence, and 
been advocated from our pulpits and platforms — 

*The Home for A ged Women, the Children's Aid Society Farm, Home and 
Chapel, the Infants' Rest, the Lend-a-Hand Mission Building, and two day 
nurseries are exclusively the gifts of Presbyterians and their affiliations. 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



245 



fallen in with, sometimes, let it be said, as the lesser 
of two evils — and held to with such tenacity as is cur- 
rent in average good people, who are apt to have 
their ups and downs, their zeal, now hot, now cool, 
and alas ! sometimes cold. 

4. In educational matters the record of Cleve- 
land Presbyterianism and her affiliated people is writ 
large. It is not claimed that Mr. Leonard Case was a 
Presbyterian, but he was the personal friend of Dr. 
Goodrich, and a pew-holder, to the day of his death, 
in the Old Stone Church. Mr. Amasa Stone was the 
trustee of the society who gave very much of per- 
sonal supervision to its affairs, and was greatly in- 
terested in its prosperity. Mr. J. L. Woods was, 
also, at one time, a trustee. Mr. J ames F. Clark was 
both a trustee and a member. Mr. George Mygatt 
was both elder and treasurer. Mrs. Mather, Mrs. 
Hay, Mrs. James F. Clark, Mrs. F. T. Backus are still 
members. Mr. John Hay is a pew-holder. Mr. W. 
S. Tyler is a trustee. These all, in one way and an- 
other affiliated with the Old First, are recognized as 
founders of institutions of learning, or their loyal 
and munificent patrons. They alone have put into 
education, chiefly in Cleveland, within the last seven- 
teen years, not less than $2,909,000. 

Besides these, are Mr. H. B. Hurlbut, munificent 
patron of art, hospitals, education — in part realized 
to the public, in part a gift yet future — Mr. E. I. 
Baldwin, Mr. T. P. Handy, Mr. Dan P. Eells, Mr. T. 
D. Crocker, all of the Second Church ; and Mr. Joseph 
Perkins, Mr. H. R. Hatch and Miss Anna Walworth, of 



246 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



the Third Church, are recognized as among the large 
donors and life-long friends of liberal education. A 
host of others are worthy of honorable mention were 
we attempting a full roster of givers and gifts. 
Oberlin must have received from Cleveland Presby- 
terians about |150 ? 000. Lane Seminary, Berea, 
Hampton and other Southern institutions have had 
generous remembrance. Surely, the indications are 
that many are mindful of the responsibility that goes 
with the accumulation and possession of wealth. Such 
giving is, in the best sense, monumental — more endur- 
ing than granite or brass. 

5. The work of women in our Churches calls for 
a discourse on its own account. I can only touch it 
here. Suffice it to say, that from the first it has al- 
ways been untiring, intelligent, self-sacrificing. Nobly 
have they borne their part, and in the total outcome 
the fruit of their labors is richly seen. 

It has never been true with us that the member- 
bership was mostly composed of women. From two- 
fifths to one-half have been men — it is believed to be 
so to-day — but doubtless it is true that, in devotion 
and consistency, the women have had and have the 
larger share. The story of it will, I trust some day 
be told. 

6. It would be to some of us a joy to call up 
here the sainted ones who have gone out of these 
Churches ; the earlier pastors of these flocks, gone 
home to God ; but if we begun, where should we end? 
They are not forgotten. Dead they speak. Their 
works do follow them. 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



247 



Let me remind this sisterhood of Churches that, 
on the old site, the First Church still holds the fort, 
doing a work for the whole city, in the very throbbing 
heart of it, only limited therein by the resources at 
her command ; fully able to employ a larger force 
and to do a greater work than can now be afforded. 
Drop us not out of your remembrance, out of your 
sympathies, out of your prayers. And if, sometimes, 
your thought runs upon the future needs of our city, 
ask yourselves how this still dense population is to be 
reached for years to come, if some adequate endow- 
ment is not provided for it by them who have drunk 
at this fountain and been refreshed. 

And finally, it becomes us all to arise in the might 
of these garnered years with the noble outfit for 
larger movements in possession, to see to it that, in 
time to come, in the great work of holding this city 
for Christ, the Presbyterian army may be found not 
wanting ; that in the wider reach of our country's 
need, at this hour, we stand for light and liberty in 
Christ ; and that, in the still wider field of the world, 
we be missionary to the last race and the last man. 



APPENDIX. 



THE CHURCHES IN ORDER OF TIME, 

BROUGHT DOWN TO JANUARY, 1896. 

THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 

Organized September 19, 1820, fourteen members ; 
April 1, 1895, 917. 

No charter members living. 

SUPPLIES : 

Rev. Randolph Stone, 1820-182 i. 
Rev. Wm. McLean, 1822. 
Rev. S. J. Bradstreet, 1823-1830. 
Rev. John Sessions, 183 1, a part. 
Rev. Samuel Hutchins, 1832-1833. 
Rev. John Keep, 1833-1835. 

PASTORS : 

Silas C. Aiken, D. D., June 7, 1835 — March 31, 
1861. 

Wm. H. Goodrich, D. D., August 12, 1858 — July 
11, 1874. 

Hiram C. Haydn, D. D., August, 1872 — October 
1, 1880. 

Calvary, associated, July, 1880 — July, 1892. 
Arthur Mitchell, D. D., October 1, 1880 — Oc- 
tober 1, 1884. 
Hiram C. Haydn, D. D., LL.D., 1884— 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



249 



ASSOCIATE AND ASSISTANT PASTORS : 

Mr. B. F. Shuart, Assistant, 1877 — 1880. 
Rev. Rollo Ogden, July 1, 1880 — November, 
1881. 

Rev. J. W. Simpson, 1882— 1884. 
Rev. W. M. Smith, October 1, 1884 — April 1, 
1887. 

Rev. Giles H. Dunning, Assistant, 1887 — July, 
1889. 

Rev. Joseph H. Selden, 1887 — 1892. 
Rev. Burt E. Howard, October, 1890 — July, 
1892. 

Rev. Wm. Knight, July 1, 1892 — July, 1894. 
Bolton Chapel Associated, December, 1890. 
Rev. R. A. George, July 1, 1892 — April, 1894. 
Rev. John Sheridan Zelie, July 1, 1894 — 



MILES PARK PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 

Organized December 31, 1832, eleven members; April 
1, 1895, 450. 

SUPPLY:— Rev. John Keys, 1835— (?) 
PASTORS: 

Rev. Matthew Fox, June, 1839 — August, 1845. 
Rev. Mr. McReynolds — (?) 

Rev. James Shaw, D. D., June, 1849 — November, 
1859. 

Rev. Erastus Chester, Supply one year. 
Rev. E. W. Childs, Supply two years. 
Rev. Wm. C. Turner, 1862 — 1867. 
Rev. Eleroy Curtis, D. D., June 9, 1867 — died 
1886. 

Rev. Arthur C. Ludlow, May 17, 1887 — 



250 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 
Organized June 12, 1844, 58 members; April 1, 1895, 
779- 

Of the fifty-eight original or charter members, twelve 
are known to be living: 

Hon. Truman P. Handy, A. M., 

Samuel H. Mather, LL. D., 

Mrs. Emily W. (S. H.) Mather, 

Jarvis Leonard, 

Mrs. Frances E. Leonard, 

Mrs. Dulcinea L. Sexton, 

Mrs. Elizabeth Kirk Hart. 

Mrs. Martha Converse, 

Erastus Freeman, 

Mrs. Mary H. Severance, 

Thomas N. Bond, 

Mrs. Sarah G. DeForest. 

Five of the first named six are still members of the 
Church. Mrs. Converse is a member of Calvary Church, 
Mr. Freeman of the Euclid Avenue Church, and Mrs. 
Severance of the Woodland Avenue Church. Mrs. Hart 
is in Bradford, Pa., Mr. Bond in Chicago, and Mrs. 
De Forest in Buffalo. 

PASTORS: 

Rev. Sherman B. Canfield, D. D., September 3, 

1844— April 23, 1854. 
Rev. James Eells, D. D., January 24, 1855 — April 

3, i860. 

Rev. Theron H. Hawks, D. D., April 24, 186 1 — 

April 7, 1868. 
Rev. James Eells, D. D., LL. D., December 16, 

1869 — June 21, 1873. 
Rev. Charles S. Pomeroy, D. D., June 22, 1873 

—September 10, 1894. 
Rev. P. F. Sutphen, October 1, 1895 — 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 251 

EUCLID AVENUE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 

Organized January 25, 1853, thirteen members; April 
1, 1895, 504. 

PASTORS: 

Rev. Joseph B. Bittinger, D. D., April 26, 1854 
— October 16, 1862. Died in Sewickly, Pa., 
April 15, 1885, aged 63 years. 

Rev. Joseph Monteith, Jr., June 10, 1863 — Octo- 
ber 2, 1866. 

Rev. Osman A. Lyman, D. D., May 19, 1868 — 
Deceased January 19, 1872. 

Rev. Charles H. Baldwin, April 20, 1873 — De- 
cember 14, 1873. 
Rev. W. H. Jeffers, D. D., May 9, 1875 — May 

14, 1877. 

Rev. John L. Robertson, December 26, 1877 — 
November 13, 1881. 

Rev. Wm. V. W. Davis, November 19, 1882 — April 

15, 1887. 

Rev. Samuel P. Sprecher, D. D., May 29, 1887 — 



NORTH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 

Organized September 19, 1870, 51 members; April 1, 
1895, 825. 

MISSION SUPPLIES: 

Rev. Aaron Peck, Jr., 1866-1867. 
Rev. B. P. Johnson, 1868. 
Rev. D. W. Sharts, 1868-1870. 

PASTORS: 

Rev. Anson Smyth, D. D., 187 1. 
Rev. H. R. Hoisington, 187 2-1880. 
Rev. Wm. Gaston, 1880 — 



252 



STONE CHUKCH ANNALS. 



CASE AVENUE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 

Organized October 2, 1870, 33 members; April 1, 
1895, 241. 

PASTORS. 

Rev. James A. Skinner, January, 1870 — December 
1873. 

Rev. Francis A. Horton, March 22, 1874 — March 
25, 1883. 

Rev. Rollo Ogden, April 29, 1883 — April 1, 1887. 
Rev. P. E. Kipp, July 5, 1887— 
Rev. F. F. Kennedy, April, 1895 — 



WOODLAND AVENUE PRESBYTERIAN 
CHURCH. 

Organized April 18, 1872, 54 members; April 1, 1895, 
1002. 

PASTORS: 

Rev. E. P. Gardner, June 30, 1872 — April 2, 
1876. 

Rev. S. L. Blake, December 12, 1877 — March 14, 
1880. 

Rev. G. L. Spining, June 16, 188 1 — October 2, 
1885. 

Rev. Paul F. Sutphen, February 16, 1886 — De- 
cember 11, 1892. 
Rev. Charles Townsend, 1893 — April, 1895. 
Rev. R. G. Hutchins, October 22, 1895 — 



WILSON AVENUE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 

Organized March 21, 1882, 48 members; April 1, 1895, 
320. 

PASTORS: 

Rev. C. T. Chester, May 14, 1882 — November, 
1889. 

Rev. A. J. Waugh, April i, 1890 — 



STONE CHUKCH ANNALS. 253 

BECKWITH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 

Organized June 17, 1885, 23 members; April 1, 1895, 
264. 

PASTORS: 

Rev. Mattoon M. Curtis, January, 1885 — April 
1, 1888. 

Rev. James D. Williamson, April 1, 1888 — 



BETHANY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 

Organized July 3, 1889, 59 members; April 1, 1895, 
167. 

PASTOR: 

Rev. Giles A Dunning, July 3, 1889 — 



CALVARY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 
Organized May 23, 1892, 306 members; April 1, 1895, 
506. 

PASTOR: 

Rev. D. O. Mears, D. D., 1892 — December 11, 
1895. 



SOUTH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 

Organized February, 1892, 35 Members; April 1, 
1895, 154. 
PASTORS: 

Rev. James D. Corwin, February, 1892 — died 

October, 1892. 
Rev. John L. Roemer, April, 1893 — 



MADISON AVENUE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 
Organized October 19, 1892, 90 members; April 1, 
1895, 205. 

PASTOR:— Rev. Charles L. Chalfant, November 4, 
1892 — Chapel enlarged 1894, at cost of about 
$1,800. 



254 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



GLENVILLE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 
Organized June 10, 1894, with 36 charter members ; 
April 1, 1895, 46. 

PASTOR: 

Rev. Theodore Y. Gardner, August 1, 1895 — 



WINDERMERE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, E. C. 

To be organized January 5, 1896, with 26 charter 
members. 

SUPPLY: 

Rev. Charles L. Zorbaugh, May 15, 1894 — 



ONE PHASE OF MISSION WORK. 

The women and girls of the Presbyterian 
Churches of Cleveland have contributed to 
Foreign Missions through the Presbyterial 
Society, since 1873, the date of that organ- 
ization...., ...$36,982 22 

Sunday Schools, Mixed Bands and Young Peo- 
ple's Societies, for the same, through the 
same $11,438 39 

$48,420 61 

For Home Missions and Freedman, through 
the Presbyterial Society since 1884, the 
date of first report; from women and girls, .$19, 270 47 

From Sunday Schools, Mixed Bands and Young 

People's Societies, $ 6,318 46 



Ji^TThis paragraph as printed in 1893. 



$25,588 93 



STONE CHURCH ANNALS. 



255 



THE CHURCHES AND THE PRESBYTERIAN 



UNION. 

First Church organized September 19, 1820 

Miles Park " December 31, 1832 

Second organized June 12, 1844 

Euclid Avenue " January 25, 1853 
Presbyterian Union organized 1870. 

North organized September 19, 1870 
Received from Presbyterian Union, 1870 
-1889, $ 8,634 18 

Case Avenue organized October 2, 1870 
Received from Presbyterian Union, 1870 
-1889, (much of this for chapel) $ 5,466 83 

Woodland Avenue organized April 18, 1872 
Wilson Avenue " March 21, 1882 
Received from Presbyterian Union, 1882 
-1892, $ 2,537 50 

Beckwith organized June 17, 1885 
Bethany " July 3, 1889 
Received from Presbyterian Union, 1889 
-1895, besides building fund $ 8,775 00 

Calvary organized May 23, 1892 
South Side " February 1892 
Received from Presbyterian Union, 1891 
-1895, $ 4>i°6 66 

East Madison Avenue organized October 19, 
1892. Received from Presbyterian Union, 
1890-1895, $ 2>86o 00 



256 



STONE CHUKCH ANNALS. 



Glenville organized June 10, 1894 
Received from Presbyterian Union and 
individuals — for current expenses about 
$1000; for the beautiful stone Chapel about 
$4,000. No call upon the churches for 
chapel outside the First. Individuals of 
them gave, $ 1,120 00 

Windermere to be organized January 5, 1896 
occupies a chapel and lot, secured by au- 
thorization of the Presbyterian Union, at a 
total cost of $7,289 50. Services and a 
Sunday School have been held since May, 
1894, by Rev. Z. L. Zorbaugh, still in 
charge. 

Received from the Union and individuals 

for current expenses, $ 1,400 00 

For Lot and Chapel, individuals in church- 
es other than the First, $1,200; Florence 
Harkness, $2,100; Mr. J. H. Wade, $100; 
balance, First Church folks — 

Total moneys paid to Churches by the Union, 
as such, (exclusive of South Side and Mad- 
ison Avenue for buildings,) $24,843 19 

Besides these sums, used almost wholly for current 
expenses, the Union has authorized the circulation of 
subscriptions, which brought to Woodland Avenue, 
Case Avenue, North Church and Beckwith, in all, over 
$50,000. 

For Calvary, Bolton Chapel and East Madison Aven- 
ue, aside from immediate neighborhood, no subscription 
was circulated outside the First Church, except in the 
North Church for the last named of the three. 



CONTENTS. 



■ PAGE 

Sunday School Exercises 3 

Committees 4 

Invitation 5 

General Programme 6 

Report of the Outlook Committee Read by Mr. Fenn 13 

Extracts from Letters 19 

Sermons by the Pastor : 

Abstract of a Discourse (Anticipatory) 29 

The Continuity of Life and Influence 39 

Seventy-Fifth Anniversary Sermon, 1820-1895 53 

Then and Now — A Contrast — 1820-1895 71 

The Cleveland Sisterhood of Presbyterian Churches, 

Rev. S. P. Spree her, D. D. 81 

The Church and the Community Rev. Chas. D. Williams 86 

The Church and Religious Progress Rev. L. L. Taylor 91 

The Church as a Witness to the Truth, 

Rev. Levi Gilbert, D. D. 94 

The Church in Her Fellowships. . . .Rev. A. G. Upham, D. D. 98 

The Founders of the First Church .... Hon. Truman P. Handy 101 

Work for the Young — Mr. Charles L. Kimball 112 

Our Young People Mr. Giles R. Anderson 124 

The Ladies' Society — 1856-1895 Mrs. H. Kirk disking 129 

The Outer Circle — Missions Mrs. E. C. Higbee 143 

Leaves from the Annals of the Goodrich Society, 

Mrs. Samuel Mather 153 

Personal Recollections of Bygone Times, 

Mrs. Mary M. Fairbanks 167 

Our Spiritual Leaders. Hon. Richard C. Parsons 178 

Men of Mark in Church and Society, 

Hon. Samuel E. Williamson 191 
The History of Presbyterianism in Cleveland, 

Rev. Hiram C. Haydn 213 

Appendix 248 



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